A New Hope
by redrose3443
Summary: Minato was chosen by the gods to save the future before it was too late and he readily agreed. However he did not plan on being turned into an eleven year old and going back to the academy again, but this time he is there along with his son. And did he mention that there was a pink haired girl that was similar to his deceased wife? Minato is in for one hell of a ride. MinaSaku.
1. Chapter 1

A New Hope

**Hey everyone! Thank you to those who voted and here is the winning idea.(As you can tell by the summary.) This will be a MinaSaku, massacre fanfic, and will be fallowing the canon, events wise. Many scenes will be different with Minato being there and Sakura will not be a fan-girl, cause I just can't write her as one. But I will try my best to make them as real and developed as possible, since I only just started writing this summer and am still working on in depth writing.**

**Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto...damn.**

**Please enjoy!**

_Minato just completed the hand signs in order to summon the shinigami and seal the kyuubi in his new born son, Naruto. The shinigami appears before him, but instead of impaling him with his tanto, he creates a few hand signs causing everything to fade into grey except Minato and himself and begins to speak._

_" Namikaze Minato, eh?"_

_" How do you know my name and why are you speaking to me, shouldn't you just fulfill your job and leave?" Minato questioned,confused by the shinigami's behavior._

_" Normally yes. However you are an exception to the rule." the shinigami answered._

_" Why?"_

_" Because _ mortal_" he began not liking being questioned by those he deem beneath him. " the gods have seen what the future holds if I were to take your life and it is not favorable in the least. Well to them."_

_" Really? So what does this mean exactly?"_

_" It means that for using my seal you will pay a different price, one that is more difficult than just giving away your life." Minato just stared at him listening to his words for any trickery." Since you will not be dying, you will not be able to seal part of yourself into your son. However you will not live on as you have been after this event. The gods need to make it look like you died like most expected, at least for a while as to keep the dangerous threats from coming after you too soon."_

_" So whats going to happen?"_

_" You my little mortal shall be time traveling."_

_" Time travel? Is that even possible?" Minato asked in disbelief._

_" Yes mortal, for the Gods anything is possible. Now do not interrupt me, for I have much to explain in the short amount of time before you go. First I must let you know that your wife will die." Minato made a pained expression, even if he knew that she was gonna die, it would be with him and not alone, but that's not going to happen now." Next all of the events that would happen if you really were to die will still happen, until you get to the future and start changing things. Also you will not wake up the same as you were before I sent you there nor will your power be the same until you have reached the point you are at now." Minato's face was now contorted into confusion, but the shinigami only continued on." Finally since you will be going into the future and not the past you don't need to worry about the whole butterfly effect seeing as how you do not know of the events to come and how they play out."_

_" But won't people recognize me, when they see me walking around Konoha?"_

_The shinigami grinned." Not for a few years mortal. Now get ready, the beast is about to be sealed and the moment it is you will be thrust into the future." he warned as the scenery began to appear and the shinigami moved to stop the kyuubi from killing Naruto with his claws._

_" Kushina!" shouted Minato as he ran to her. She was collapsed over by Naruto._

_" Minato...I don't have much longer and you did the seal and now Naruto will..." she trailed off, losing the ability to speak._

_" Don't worry Kushina, Naruto will not grow up alone." he reassured her, but did not give the reason." I just wish you could be there in order to help him in the stages of being a jinchuriki."_

_Kushina smiled weakly." Don't worry... if he is truly my son, he will be able to get through it."_

_Minato smiled back. " I know."_

_" I love you Naruto, Minato." she said as she held Naruto close and looked and Minato._

_" I love both you and Naruto as well, Kushina." said Minato as two tears slid down him face._

_The seal finally activated and the kyuubi was sucked into Naruto. As soon as that happened Minato was engulfed in a blue light and disappeared. The only thing remaining were his headband and fourth hokage robe._

* * *

When Minato finally awoke it was to a bright white ceiling, which caused him to cringe and groan in pain. His head was pounding and he can hear his heart beat like a drum against his ears. As the pain lessened, but did not completely go away he opened his eyes again as he sat up slowly. When he did he was met with white and red this time.

" Old man...what are you doing here and what happened?" Minato asked not hearing the sound of his voice due to the pain.

" Before I answer that young man, please tell me how you ended up in my office looking as if you just battled a hundred men with your bare hands and who you are." he commanded sternly, yet gently.

" I wish I battle them, then I could have survived with a lot less of a headache and what do you mean who I am? You know me old man, I'm Namikaze Minato, yondaime and Konoha's yellow flash, or have you finally gone senile with age?"

" So your Minato?" the Hokage asked with a raised eyebrow.

" In the flesh."

" Then would you mind stepping in front of this mirror for me?" he asked gesturing towards the mirror on the corner on the opposite side of Minato's bed.

" Sure." he said skeptically. Sure he knew he might have looked a little banged up from fighting the kyuubi, but the spiky blonde hair and ocean blue eyes should be a dead give away. He thought, while his eyes were closed for a moment trying to lessen the pain that was slowly going away. Then finally he was in front of the mirror and opened his eyes.

He blinked once, twice, thrice. Then he stared.

" Old man is this one of Tsunade-obaa-san's inventions so that she can try and look young?" he asked thumb pointed at the mirror.

" No son, that is a normal mirror." he replied casually, though he was really watching the boy who claimed to be _the_ Fourth Hokage. He has to admit that the boy looks just like Minato did at that age, but Minato is a grown man, or was, so for this _child_ to claim to be him is preposterous._ Although, Minato's body was never recovered, so this kid could possibly..._ he didn't even let his hopeful side finish that though. He learned not to be hopeful after his son died and even more so when his wife passed away, he would need cold hard facts before he ever believed this boy's story.

" Oh I see."

pause.

" WHAT THE HELL?!"

" A boy your age should not use such language."

" Old man, I'm 23 years old, I can use whatever the hell kinda language I want, but right now I want to know why I'm 11 years old and how far into the future am I?"

Sarutobi blinked then pondered on if he should tell him or not, before sighing." It has been 11 years since the kyuubi attack. Now what is this about time travel?"

" Look old man I think we should talk about this in the safety of my office...er your office, so as to not let people, who really don't need to know in on this important conversation."

" Ah, I agree. However do you plan on leaving the hospital like that?" Sarutobi asked trying to keep the mock out of his voice. Though he is still not able to believe this boy's story yet, he can't help the fondness and memories the child creates. Similar to Minato's son Naruto, no matter how much of a pain he is, he is someone many want to be around once they get to know him.

Minato looked down and saw that he was in a short sleeve hospital gown, with white boxers on. One thought quickly came to mind._ Who changed me?_ But he decided some mysteries were better left unsolved." Are there any spare clothes?" The Hokage pointed to a small dresser and Minato quickly went over there and got changed. He was now wearing a forest green short-sleeve shirt, brown cargo shorts and grabbed the standard blue shinobi sandals." Ready when you are." he stated with a grin.

The two made their way to the office taking the less crowded paths as to not draw attention to themselves. Once in the office the Hokage asked Minato to explain from the beginning and after Minato was done with his tale, the Hokage leaned back in his chair.

" So you really are Minato?"

" Yes."

" And you time traveled into the future?"

" Yes."

" In order to save Konoha?"

" Mmmhmm."

" Kami and I thought I'd seen it all."

Minato grinned." Well you've seen more than I have. So old man, what's Konoha like now? Did they rebuild the damaged buildings from the kyuubi attack?"

Now came the hard part thought Sarutobi. He was not sure how to tell Minato about the Uchiha incident nor about Kakashi's with drawl to becoming close to anyone ever again.

" Minato, things are a lot worse than when you left, I'm afraid." he began. Minato's posture immediately straighten and his face grew serious.

" What do you mean?"

" After the kyuubi attack it was discovered that only a sharingan wielder could control the demon." flashbacks of a masked man appeared in Minato's mind, but he waited to see where this was going." So the village elders began watching the Uchiha clan closely and practically kept them on lock down. But this resulted in the Uchiha trying to build a coup." Minato's eyes widened." I was informed through clan heir and prodigy Uchiha Itachi. He was more loyal to the leaf than he was to his clan. So I told the elders and we tried to find some common ground before anything got out of hand, however the Uchiha clan head Uchiha Fugaku would not compromise and in the end Danzou and the other head elders went behind my back and gave young Itachi a... mission." Minato did not like where this was going." The original mission was for him to massacre his whole family and be pardoned for stopping the Uchiha forces, but he was unable to kill one person. His little brother Uchiha Sasuke and because of that the mission changed. He is now a rogue ninja and is Jiraiya's secret contact within the criminal world." the Sandaime chanced a look at Minato and wished he hadn't.

Minatos face was contorted into rage, with his fist clenched. But his _eyes_ are where he saw everything. Anger, rage, pity, disappointment, and sadness.

" If only I could have come here sooner, then maybe..."

" Minato you should not even finish that sentence. In our line of work there are many things that we will come to regret, however things that we have no control over should not be one of them."

" But..."

" Think about all the lives you can save instead of the ones you lost. Besides if this had gone to your plan you would have been long dead and never known about the massacre."

Minato nodded." Is there anything else?"

" Kakashi." at the name Minato was back to his serious posture." Don't worry he is still alive. However he does not allow anyone to get close to him, is more often than not at the memorial stone grieving, and has developed bad habits."

" Such as?" Minato questioned with a raised eyebrow.

" His idea of on time is three hours late, he no longer gives straight answers, unless it's an emergency, and he reads porn in public."

" Are we talking about Hatake Kakashi?"

" Yes."

" Wow, you miss 11 years and all of a sudden you know nothing. Old man what am I going to do now? The shinigami said I would no longer be at my same power level, which I can see why now, I can't just go around saying I'm Namikaze Minato, without getting bombarded with questions and I'm barely past 5 feet."

" Well I have though of a solution to all of that."

" Oh?"

"Yes. You shall attend the academy like every student your age and work your body and power back up to it's original level, plus at that age you were still considered a prodigy and a powerful ninja and that along with all of your past knowledge should be more than enough to help you rise through the ranks quickly."

" Thanks, but I'm gonna slow down this time. No need to rush into what I have already done, but I will be working on my chakra levels and stamina."

" Next you will change your surname and don't worry, I'm sure you won't mind this one."

" But what about a cover story? Some people might recognize me even though I'm younger."

" That's where the new surname comes in. Minato you now have a younger brother."

" Eh?"

But Minato did not need the third's answer, because right then the doors busted open to reveal similar blond hair and blue eyes, that Minato knew could only belong to one person.

" MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO, BELIEVE IT!"

_'Dear lord Kushina...He is definitely your son.'_

* * *

**Hope the chapter was not too bad, I wrote it at 1:30 in the morning. Also I wanted to let you all know that I will try to update 'BNB' at least once a month along with 'B-rabbit Sakura', so keep reviewing and I will keep providing new chapters. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**Bye~**


	2. Chapter 2

A New Hope

**Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto. Che.**

**Thanks for all of the positive reviews! It made me so happy that I wanted to write again on the same day I published the story! So I have decided that if I will receive many reviews, then I will try to update more than just once a week. So it's all up to you viewers.**

**On with the story and please enjoy.**

Minato stared at his son, who had just busted through the door and announced to probably half of Konoha who he was. He looked so different from the one hour old baby, Minato last saw. The only thing that remained the same was his blonde hair, which grew and his whiskers, which also grew.

Naruto finally opened his eyes and stopped grinning like a mad man, he then blinked in confusion." Eh, old man, who's that? And why is he staring at me like some kinda weirdo?" at the insult Minato quickly stopped.

" Ah Naruto, just the boy I wanted to see. Allow me to introduce you to your older brother Uzumaki Minato."

Naruto's jaw dropped as his head whipped back and forth between the third and his supposed 'new brother.' Minato on the other hand already knew what the third was getting at when Naruto burst in and was unsure what to think. He knew that he could not tell him that he was his father, because they are the same age. But he could work with brother, brothers were close and were able to tell each other more secrets than a kid would ever dream of telling his parents. When Minato came to the conclusion that Sarutobi knew what he was doing, he flashed Naruto a smile and held out his hand.

" Hey Naruto, sorry it took so long to get back to you. I was born nine months before you in secret and was taken away into hiding, while the war was going on, but they could not risk me returning until now, actually I just got here today." Naruto just looked at his hand still hesitant, which striked Minato as odd. Did Naruto think that he would hit him or something?

Sarutobi knew exactly why Naruto was hesitant and knew that he had to explain to Minato what Naruto has gone through." Naruto, would you please step out for a moment, I will call you back as soon as I am done speaking with Minato here." Naruto nodded, not taking his eyes off Minato's hand and left silently, a huge contrast to how he first entered.

" Why did Naruto look like I was going to hurt him?"

*Sigh*" That is something else I needed to tell you, the older citizens and teens know that Naruto holds the kyuubi." Minato's eyes widened." Not only that, but they have pushed all their hatred for the kyuubi on Naruto and blame him for what happened. They insult him, shun him, tell their children not to go near him, glare at him, and sometimes even try to physically abuse him." Sarutobi knew he could not even look Minato in the eyes this time, because he could_ feel_ Minato's anger right now.

" And you just let that happen?" Minato questioned calmly as if he were asking of today's weather. But the Sandaime knew better than that, it was the calm before the storm and if he was not careful, he would have an enraged shrunken Hokage on his hands.

" No. I told everyone that, what Naruto holds is not to be spoken about to anyone or else they will be given a harsh punishment, however as the Hokage I can only interfere when it is physical abuse and even then some ANBU hold resentment towards Naruto, because of the kyuubi." he tried to reason.

" So the village is wrongly pushing all their hatred on a boy, an orphaned boy, _my_ boy?"

" I'm afraid so. I try to help Naruto as best I can, I even had to fight for him just to be able to enter ninja academy, because the civilian elders did not want "the demon boy to gain power and destroy us all."" he quoted the elders.

" Naruto is **not** a demon, he is a hero for taking on the burden of housing such a beast."

" No matter what the villagers won't see it that way. They act violently towards things they don't understand. But even through all of the pain as you can tell by how he made his entrance, Naruto is not letting them stop him from protecting Konoha and achieving his dream."

" Which is?"

" Ask him yourself when you talk to him, I'm sure he would love to tell you." the third ad a twinkle in his eyes that he did not like, but then the thirds face turned serious." Do you hate the villagers in knowing how they treat your son."

Minato let out an angry sigh and slumped back into his chair across from the Hokage." Unfortunately, I could never hate my home. I am extremely pissed that they treat things they don't understand with violence, but I can't just go around hurting them for it. However I will be around to stop them and find a way to get them to accept Naruto for who he is and not what he holds."

" I'm glad that you have come to a reasonable conclusion and if you need help or have any suggestions, then please let me know. Now I will arrange for you and Naruto to move into a two bedroom house."

" What's wrong with where Naruto lives now?"

" Well for starters it is designed for one person and not very nice, because of who he is it was hard to even get him into that place. But this new house has two bedrooms and is separate from most of the villagers. I was working on it for Naruto to have by the time he was chuunin, but with you here, the both of you can move in now and I will pay for you until you can become official ninja and begin paying for things on your own."

Minato grinned." Thanks old man. Also I will need a little money now in order to go shopping for new clothes and maybe get a few for Naruto. I really hope everything he has is not orange." he said nose wrinkled in disdain.

Sarutobi chuckled." Of course. Here your are, now let me call Naruto back in." he said as he presented Minato with a money pouch." Naruto, you can come in now." the door immediately flew open.

"Finally, I have been waiting forever."

" It was 20 minutes Naruto."

" Exactly old man! 20 minutes of my life gone. Now what's this about a brother? Are you for real?"

Minato walked next to him and smiled softly." Hai, Naruto. I'm sorry for not being here to help you deal with the villagers." Naruto very subtly flinched at the word "villagers" and if Minato had not been jounin rank or higher he would have missed it." But from now on I want you to know that I am here for you and that I will always be on your side. So please don't be afraid of me." It pained Minato to have to say those words or think of what cruel things the villagers did to make Naruto become like this.

Naruto didn't say a word for a moment, but then, almost shyly, he offered Minato his hand and grinned," Well then, I will be counting on you." Minato could have cried, but he simply blinked his eyes a few times and grasped Naruto's hand.

Hiruzen (Third Hokage.)smiled to himself._ 'Biwako, with these two, there is hope for the future yet.'_

* * *

Minato was walking towards Naruto's and His new house. It was almost sunset by the time he finished clothes shopping and he wanted to get back to him as soon as possible. Naruto said that he would go to the new house and get settled in, while preparing dinner and he wondered just what could Naruto prepare. This is how he saw his life before, coming home to his son and dinner at the table. Only thing is that there would be no red-headed woman to greet him, nor will he be getting call 'dad' anytime soon. He tried to shake the bad thoughts away because he did not want to deal with them on his first day of meeting his son.

Minato was thankfully brought out of his musings, when he heard an angry shout.

" Ugh! Why can't I get this right!" he looked around for the voice that was definitely female and found a girl, with her back turned to him, about his current age stomping her feet like a spoiled child when they don't get their way. He looked closely at her and from what he could see she had long waist length pink hair in a low ponytail. He had to rub his eyes just to make sure they weren't playing tricks on him._' And Kushina thought her hair was different.'_. He then looked further on and saw five practice targets._ 'She must be one of the academy students.'_

He watched as she took out 5 shuriken and kunai, positioned herself, and launched them. Two kunai and shuriken from her right hand hit a bull's eye, while the third kunai missed the center by a few inches, the other two kunai and shuriken once in her left hand also missed the center by a few inches, while one shuriken didn't even hit a target." Argh! I can only hit 4/10 bulls eyes and one doesn't even come close to the target! How am I suppose to pass the genin test if I can't hit all ten targets." she huffed and sat down cross-legged. Then her shoulders tensed." Who ever you are go away." Minato stayed where he was(behind a large bush, that was next to a tree.) seeing if she was talking about him, but his suspicions were confirmed when a kunai was all of a sudden coming toward him. He quickly caught it before it could do any damage to him." I said go away."

Minato came from behind the bush leaving his bags there. He had just bought a new set of weapons and pouches, cause of not having his old ones. The girl's head whipped around, revealing stunning bright green eyes. Her face was contorted into a scowl.

" Naruto, I thought I told you not to -" however she cut herself off once she got a good look at the blonde boy who interrupted her training." Your not Naruto." she stated head cocked to the side a bit.

" No I am not." Minato stated back.

"Who are you?"

Minato did not know whether this was one of the people who hated Naruto, so instead of replying he asked." How do you know Naruto."

" He's in my class at the academy, plus sometimes we train together here, because were the only ones that come here. Now who are you?"

" Uzumaki Minato, I am Naruto's older brother. Are you going to introduce yourself as well?"

The pink haired girl's eyes widened for a moment before she replied." I'm Haruno Sakura, I'm kinda like a friend towards Naruto, though we never made it official. However I didn't know that Naruto even had any siblings."

Minato watched her eyes for any lies, but found none." Well I just came back to the village. I have been gone for a long time. Are you training now?" he gestured towards the targets.

Sakura scowled again." Yeah, but it's more of a pain than what I am used to. I'm not really good with the physical part of being a ninja, so I'm trying to work on that."

"Why don't you get a friend to train with you?"

Sakura's eyes went down to the ground and her hands came together in front of her waist." Well my friend and I kinda had a falling out, thanks to some boy."

" Hm?"

" She thought I liked the same guy as her, just because I said he was cool, declared me her rival, and broke our friendship off."

" Oh, well, why don't you get someone else?"

Sakura shifted on her feet uncomfortably." I wouldn't want to bother anyone."

Minato raised and eyebrow in question.

*Sigh* " Do you always question everyone you first meet?" she huffed, while crossing her arms.

Minato's lips twitched up._' This girl keeps changing from one emotion to the next. Angry, confused, surprised, sad, uncomfortable, and now aggravated.'_ he thought amused. " Not sure, you are the first person I ran into today that is attending the academy, not counting my brother. But, why do you think you would be a bother, by asking someone to train with you."

" Look, it's just..." she trailed off.

" Yes?"

" Well, you see my hair, it's unnatural and... my forehead is larger than most, which caused people to pick on me often as a little girl. So I try not to draw too much attention to myself, because I don't want the same thing to happen now that I am older." Sakura was not sure why she told this boy her problems. **' Maybe that saying where ' Some t****imes it's easier to tell a stranger your problems instead of a friend' is true.'** _' Maybe, however now he might just make fun of me as well, if not for my hair than my forehead.'_**' Come on, have some confidence. Even with pink hair and a larger forehead, we are still very** **pretty.'**_' yeah, well, pretty is not gonna help me with my aim, so think of something else.'_ While inner and Sakura continued their argument, Minato was having flashbacks of a little girl with long red hair getting picked on.

~O~O~O~O~ Flashback~O~O~O~O~

_" Everyone, this is Uzumaki Kushina from whirlpool, Please be kind to her." A little girl with long red hair and a small pout on her face, stood in front of the class." Kushina, you may sit next to Minato, Minato please raise your hand."_

_A younger Minato, about eight or so, raised his hand. Kushina quickly made her way to her new seat and watched the lesson with board eyes. Then the bell rang signalling lunch time." Okay kids, see you all after lunch and be safe." the kids shouted back 'Hai.' as the teacher left._

_Kushina grabbed her stuff and was about to go get lunch when several boys and girls came up to her._

_" Is that really your natural hair color?" asked one black-haired boy in a rude way._

_Kushina frowned, but answered." Yes."_

_" No way!" another brown-haired boy piped in." It's so weird." and a few of them snickered at that comment._

_Kushina scowled." Where I come from its natural. A lot of Uzumaki's have red hair."_

_Minato was silently watching the exchange, ignoring his friends, who were trying to get him to hurry up and join them for lunch._

_" Do all Uzumaki's have such a round and fat face, as well?" joked one black-haired girl, causing the group to laugh._

_Kushina's eyes narrowed." My face is fine. Now leave me alone." she was getting mad, her face turning a bit red with her growing anger. However the kids wouldn't stop._

_" Look, her face is turning as red as her hair!" shouted a blonde girl._

_" With her hair and face that color, along with how round it is, she looks like a tomato!" shouted the same brown-haired boy from earlier._

_" Your right, she does look like a tomato!" agreed one of the kids, while the others laughed._

_" Shut up! There is nothing wrong with my hair, or face, so just leave me alone, dattebane!" yelled Kushina, almost at her max._

_" Ha! What are you gonna do about it to-ma-to?" the black-haired boy said picking up some of her red hair and tugging on it, while pronouncing the word tomato._

_Kushina dropped her books and launched herself at the boy and started punching him. Others tried to get her off, but she would just hit everyone that touched her. Soon one kid ran and got the teacher, who finally separated her and was leaving to take her to the office, while he told the other kids, that got hit by her, to head to a nurse and get their wounds cleaned up._

_Minato, just stared as the teacher left with a struggling Kushina in his arms._

~O~O~O~O~End of Flashback~O~O~O~O~

When he came out of his musings, he noticed that the girl, Sakura, was also lost in though. He silently wondered if this girl also had a temper like Kushina's , but doubted it. After all, what are the odds he would find anyone similar to her again, highly unlikely.( Oh, you'll learn Minato.) Thinking about it and how he didn't face her until a few years later made Minato upset with himself. He then looked back at Sakura and decided he was going to do something about it this time.

" Would you mind if I trained with you?"

Sakura looked up at him in shock." Are you serious?"

" Un, I think you're a nice girl, plus you know Naruto, so we can train together." he saw Sakura's eyes light up at the thought of training together." And if you want, right now I can help you with your aim."

Sakura nodded." Thank you."

Minato smiled a bit." No problem. Now I assume your right hand is the dominate one, which is why you are able to hit more targets than your left, but being a ninja we must be ready to fight one-handed or with no hands, so let me show you a proper throwing technique." Minato, then took out five kunai and shuriken and held his left arm over his right, with his fingers curled a bit. He then launched them and Sakura watched amazed as they all hit dead center.

" Wow, that was amazing."

" Thanks, but that was nothing and soon you will be able to do it too. You just have to find your angle that best works for you and then you will be able to hit the targets almost if not every time."

"Really? I was using the way the academy teachers taught me."

" Yes, the teachers use a standard that works with most ninja, but not all, which is why you can't hit all the targets. You need to find your own way."

" So, I just keep throwing at different angles and finger positions, till I get it right?"

"Basically, but I would suggest you hold your left arm over your right. Since left is not your dominate hand, you need to give it all the handicaps it can get, in order to be on par with your right hand."

" Alright, I'll try." Sakura then crossed her arms, bent her fingers a bit, and launched. The results of her right hand were the same, however with her left hand she was able to hit two bulls eyes and the shuriken that normally does not even touch the target was a few inches away from the center." Ah." she said looking a bit surprised.

" See, you're not bad at it. You just need to find your angle and you can be just as good as anyone else, if not better, with more practice."

So for the next couple hours Minato gave Sakura tips and she tried all types different ways to hit her target. Some ways allowed all of her kunai to hit a bull's eye, but her shuriken miss and others caused her shuriken to hit, but for her kunai to miss. Though she did decide to file away those hand positions for when she was using just kunai or just shuriken. However she was trying to master both and had to keep practicing.

Finally, she decided to cross her arms over her chest, left over right, hands bent into fist, and turn her hands so that she could see her palms, she took a breath and launched. They all hit dead center.

Sakura just blinked making sure she was seeing things right." I... did it." she stated in shock.

" Yep, like I said you're not bad at it, no one really is, it just all depends on if you find a way that works best for you."

Sakura turned around to face him, the setting sun giving her a mystical glow, arms behind her back, her eyes a bit glassy with unshed tears of joy, and a bit of perspiration coating her skin from the practice. Then she smiled. It was soft and she did not show any teeth, but it was full of sincere gratitude." Thank you Minato."

_Ba-thump_

Minato did not know why his heart skipped a beat, when she said his name like that, however when he looked at Sakura smiling back and looking so happy and thankful, he could not keep the huge grin off of his face." You're welcome."

Sakura then turned and looked at the sky." Oh, is the sun setting already. Sorry Minato, but I have to get back home, before my parents worry." she explained as she ran to get her kunai and shuriken from the targets.

Minato blinked realizing he had to get back to Naruto as well." Ah, I have to get home to. Although Sakura," he called. She turned around and looked at him, showing that she was listening." tomorrow after school, I will bring Naruto here and we will practice with moving targets alright?"

Sakura stood still for a minute then flashed a smile." Alright, I'll see you tomorrow Minato. And good luck on your first day of school if you need any help with the lessons just let me know." she offered as she ran off in the direction, Minato assumed to be her house.

He grabbed his bags and took off towards his new home, getting ready to tell Naruto about tomorrows training. He was not sure why he stayed and talked to Sakura, but in the end it was worth it, 'cause now both Naruto and himself have a new training partner and friend. This time around he was glad that he helped the girl with interesting features and he hopes to learn more about her, with his new life to come.

* * *

The next day found Minato rising at 6 am. _' Jeez be it past or future I still wake up early. Well at least I won't be late to my first day at the academy...again._ He mused as he got out of bed and headed into the shower. Classes started at 8 am, so he could take his time, wake Naruto up and prepare breakfast. He chuckled to himself when he remembered what Naruto prepared for dinner last night.

Ramen. And when he questioned him on it, Naruto went into a whole rant on how ramen is God's greatest creation and that it was good for the soul._' He may have gotten my looks, but if his hair was longer, he could past for a male Kushina.'_ His chest tightened a bit at the thought of her and now that he was not dealing with the third, Naruto, or Sakura, he actually had time to think about her properly.

The Sandaime never did tell him what happened to her. Of course he knew that she died, but was she able to be buried properly? Did someone try to steal her body for information? Minato's hands bawled into a fist and he pounded it against the shower wall. He would not accept it if some bastard tried to use his wife's _dead_ body as some test subject. He decided that he will see the third before he goes to school. And with that new-found chore, he needed to hurry up with his routine.

He quickly finished his shower and got dressed. He chose the same outfit that he used to wear at this age. Consisting of an open grayish white jacket, matching shinobi pants, fish net under shirt, however this time he chose black shinobi sandals, instead of blue. He looked in the mirror, then at his forehead. He felt bare without his forehead protector, but knew that he would not officially receive one for another few months.

He let out a sigh and headed downstairs to make a fast breakfast. He hurriedly made a sunny side up egg on toast and some orange juice for both himself and Naruto. Then he checked the time and saw that it was almost seven, so he decided to wake Naruto up before he left, so _he_ wouldn't be late.

" Naruto...Naruto wake up." he called as he tried to wake the pillow hugging boy up, by shaking him a bit.

" Mmm~ I can eat more ramen don't worry about me..."

Minato realized that Naruto would need a bit of 'convincing' in order to get up, so he went back downstairs and got a glass of cold water.( FYI the house has two levels, on the top are the two bedrooms and bathroom, while on the bottom are the decent sized kitchen, living room, dinning room, small den, and an extra closet. It's a medium size house nothing to fancy, but nice enough for two.)

Once he was back he tried to call Naruto once more, but saw that he would not wake up, so he poured the water on his head, causing Naruto to shoot up and look around.

" WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

" I tried to wake you up the normal way, but you didn't move, so I had to try something else. You have an hour before the academy starts and I made breakfast, so get ready. I am leaving now, 'cause I have to see the Hokage before school, alright?"

Naruto just nodded mutely. Someone waking him up for school and making him breakfast was a new experience, that he never thought would happen. He thought yesterday was a dream, but no, it was real. He had a brother, someone who would be there for him. He had a family and he was still not to sure what to think about the situation.

Minato upon seeing Naruto nod, quickly ruffled his hair and bid him a good-bye. He smiled to himself as he was walking down the hall and heard Naruto complain about messing up his hair. Even if it is not a father son relationship it is still a family one and that's all he could ever ask for.

* * *

Once at the Hokage's door, thanks to the nice secretary, he knocked several times and heard a muffled 'come in'.

"Old man, I wanted to ask you something that I didn't have a chance at before with the whole Naruto thing going on."

" Oh, and what might that be?"

" Kushina, what happened to her body? I know she died that night, but I want to make sure she was at least buried properly."

Hiruzen took in the boy's worried and tense posture before replying." Do not worry Minato. Kakashi quickly found her and Naruto after the sealing and brought them both back. She was given a proper burial and has a head stone where honorable kunoichi go after death."

Minato nodded and relaxed a bit._' At least no harm will come towards her in the afterlife.'_ " Thank you old man, that's all I need to know."

Sarutobi nodded, then laced his fingers together." Now Minato, there is something I need to ask you. Do you wish to speak with Kakashi and reveal who you really are to him?"

Minato paused to think about it." Well at some point I want to, because I don't want him to think that he has no one left or that anything was his fault."

" I understand, however I ask that you do not face him until you have been made a genin."

" Why?"

" Because that will be the time when Kakashi will be taking on his own genin team, which will of course now consist of you, but I'm not sure who else at the moment."

" So my student in the past is going to be my teacher in the future? Heh, that will be interesting."

Sarutobi smiled a bit." Indeed, however right now you need to be getting to the academy young one." he mocked.

Minato scowled." Whatever old man, just you wait I'll get you back for all these kid jokes."

" Of course you will. Oh and Minato, I think it's good that you are helping both Naruto and Sakura out."

Minato looked back from the door." You were spying on me." he stated.

" Just watching out to see what would happen with you in the village again."

" Whatever, but you better not make it a habit."

" I won't, but I do mean what I say. Both of them could make formidable shinobi, with the proper guidance."

" Well you can count on me old man and I will see you later." said Minato as he left the office and headed to the academy.

Once at the academy he stopped by the doors leading to his assigned room and soon a chuunin instructor showed up.

" Hello, you must be my new student. My name is Umino Iruka and I will be your teacher, what is your name."

" My name is Uzumaki Minato and I am Naruto's older brother." Minato watched as his eyes widened in shock, then he smiled warmly at him.

" Well it is very nice to meet you. I'm glad Naruto has a you as well." Minato could see that he was sincere and gave a nod, glad that not everyone hated Naruto." Please wait out here until I call you in."

"Hai." And with that Iruka disappeared behind the door, into the noisy classroom. After a moment, things quieted down and he heard Iruka tell him to come in.

"Everyone I would like you to meet a new student who will be joining our class for the rest of the year." whispers broke out among the students, but he ignored them and scanned the room. He found the last Uchiha sizing him up, a bunch of girls with hearts in their eyes, causing him to grimace, and Naruto and Sakura at the very back of the class, Naruto next to the isle and Sakura in the middle, with an empty seat next to him." Please introduce yourself." told Iruka.

" My name is Uzumaki Minato and I am Naruto's older brother."

There was a pause.

"Eeeehhhhh!?"

"_ He_ has a brother?" questioned a boy.

" And not to mention a cute one." added a girl.

" Cute he's hot!"

" Minato-kun, I love you!"

" No! I love Minato-kun!"

He ignored the fan girls and eyes as he walked to the back of the classroom. He flashed a smile towards Naruto and Sakura, which they returned and sat next to her.

Iruka then quieted the class again and began teaching. Minato was hardly listening, because he already knew this, but he noticed that Naruto was on the verge of sleep and that Sakura was taking notes and paying close attention.

_' Must be the intelligent type.' _he noted. Classes drag on slowly for Minato, but he expected that. When the last bell rang he was all to thankful.

" Are you two ready to go?"he asked. When he received nods, they all left to the training grounds Minato met Sakura at, quickly so that Minato could escape the fan girls.

Sakura smiled." Fan girls on your first day Minato? You better watch out, some of them are the stalking type." she said as she did some stretches.

Minato covered his face with his hands and groaned." That's just what I needed. On top of already knowing the class material I have to be on the look out for stalkers."

" Is that why you were looking bored in class?" asked Naruto.

Minato was surprised, though he did not show it. Naruto must be more perspective than he let's on, because out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sakura's shocked face.

" Yeah, before I came back I was taught the material, so that I would have no trouble starting late." he lied smoothly.

" Well, why don't you bring a scroll or a book to read? I do that sometimes, when the teacher talks about something I already read ahead on." suggested Sakura.

" That's a good idea." he could study up on some new techniques he was developing before the kyuubi attack. And because he is a good several years in the future, there should be more information on some thing he needed. That way he can physically train his body after school and study and brainstorm new ideas during, instead of wasting time." Alright now today we will be working on aim and stamina. Sakura I know that you can hit still targets, but you need to practice on moving ones as well as your stamina that you said was lacking." Sakura nodded to this." Naruto I need to know where you stand too."

" Well, Iruka-sensei says that I have a lot of stamina and chakra, but no control or aim."

" Alright, so basically you two are opposites, I'm assuming."

" Un. Iruka-sensei says I have great chakra control and intelligence, but need to work on my chakra levels and stamina."

" Alright well, for the next year we shall be working on all of those things to get you both up to or even more advanced than genin level."

" Alright!" called out Naruto.

" But Minato, what about you?" questioned a curious Sakura.

" I was taught up to around chuunin level, so I should be fine and I can just do some private training later, so that I am still improving my skills." Sakura nodded satisfied." Okay, now first I want you to do as many laps as you can around the village and when you can't run anymore, walk once around, then return here. I will be watching you, so you better keep going until you can barely stand, you need to push yourself beyond your limits to improve."

" Hai!" they both chorused as they took off.

Minato watched their retreating backs with soft eyes. He was gonna help those two achieve their goals along with his own and make sure that they got rid of their insecurities caused by other people. He knew he didn't have to, but he wanted them to smile and be strong enough to protect not only Konoha, but themselves, both physically and mentally. It was gonna be a long year, but maybe, just maybe, it would be one of the best years of his life.

_' Kushina, I'm changing things, one person at a time. Please look out for not only me, but those two as well, because they will be important in the future, to myself and Konoha.'_

* * *

**Done! I hope you all liked it, it took a while, but I was able to finish it. **

**Thanks again and please review!**

**Tah-tah~**


	3. Chapter 3

-A New Hope-

**Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto. *pushes Sasuke out of emo corner, so I can sulk.***

It has been eight months since Minato's arrival to the future and he has been busy. After his first day of school and traing session with Naruto and Sakura, he was called to the Hokage's office. Apparently his clothes weren't the only thing that made it through the time portal, because Sarutobi handed him his special kunai. He was relieved when he discovered that he could still preform the jutsu, though he is barely at half the speed he used to be able to go. However with training he has slowly been able to increase his speed up to at least half as fast as he once was.

The school year was finally coming to an end and the genin exams are almost over. Minato has been preparing himself to meet his old student, now teacher, again. It was difficult avoiding Kakashi for so long, because he really did wish to help his student, but he also knew that he needed to wait and figure out how he was even going to approach him and reveal his identity. However he did take into account that his student might recognize him if not for his features than by his name, after all Kakashi was one of the few who knew he was married to Kushina. Though in the end Minato decided that he would tell Kakashi the night after his team passed the second genin test and he becomes one out of the nine official genin...again.

Plus this was not the only thing that Minato was busy focusing on. He has been training both Naruto and Sakura for the past few months and is proud to say that they have improved greatly. Naruto is now able control his chakra enough so that he no longer waste a lot of it when executing a simple jutsu, he is not so sloppy with his taijutsu anymore and has better reaction time, and he was able to get Naruto to sit down and study enough, so that he was at least near average, though still low, with his grades. Iruka nearly dislocated his jaw, when it dropped to the ground, when Naruto first scored a 'c' on one of his written exams, and Minato even began teaching Naruto a few low level seals he knew that would suit him.

Sakura has also come far in her training. Her stamina, though no where near Naruto's and his own, is now at a slightly above average rate, so she no longer tiers quickly, when in a taijutsu battle, her chakra coils are also slightly above average as well, with all the chakra expanding exercises she has been doing. She said that the first two things she wanted to work on before anything else, getting her stamina and coils up to at least average, then she would work on finding her areas of expertise, which Minato agreed completely on. He discovered that she was a genjutsu type, but didn't know how to execute one, so all three of them went to the library in order to get scrolls on the things they needed. Naruto got scrolls on chakra control and taijutsu moves, Sakura got scrolls on genjutsu, chakra manipulation and to his surprise medical ninjutsu, and he himself got scrolls on seals and wind/water based ninjutsu, for combination attacks he has been working on. They were in the chuunin level section, which was usually not permitted to academy students, however thanks to the third they were able to get the scrolls. Sakura's reflexes have also improved along with her and Naruto's weaponry skills, and thanks to the chakra manipulation, she has slowly, but surely begun to form chakra strings and began attaching them to things like weapons, in order to work on control and range with them.

They have both come a long way and are more than excited about becoming genin. Though it's not just them, Minato can think of several more genin that are oozing with excitement. The only one that does not seem affected is the Uchiha.

Uchiha Sasuke. The boy was a talented ninja for his age and reminded him of Kakashi, with his aloof attitude, higher level ninja skills, and the way he speaks to people. He is ranked second among this years group, with Minato himself in the lead and because of this Sasuke has made Minato his unofficial rival, along with Naruto, who is near the top of the list, not counting his written grades. Naruto has spent more than one training session complaining about Sasuke's mannerisms, much to both Minato's and Sakura's charring and always tries to one-up him in class. Minato just hoped that the gods would not put those two on a team together. Heh, yeah right.

Today the class has to perform a transformation jutsu and a clone jutsu. Minato is not worried for himself or Sakura, however no matter how many times he shows Naruto the proper way to perform the simple illusion, Naruto's clone always looks sick and is not able to even stand. So Minato decided that if Naruto is still unable to preform the clone technique, he would talk to the Sandaime and see if he can work something out.

So as usual both Minato and Naruto strolled into class and talked, while waiting for sakura. 10 minutes later, the back door slid open and revealed a tired and out of breath Ino and a barely even winded Sakura. Minato knew all about Sakura's rivalry as well, thanks to their training sessions. Yamanaka Ino, daughter of his old friend Inoichi, Sasuke's number one fan girl, although she still flirts with himself whenever the opportunity arises, and your typical real-life Barbie. The girl is able to execute her clans jutsu well and she has a strong personality, which is needed for most ninja. However she does not take being a kunoichi seriously, therefore is average at best.

" Ha! I so beat you, forehead. Just like how I'm gonna win Sasuke-kun's love before you!" exclaimed Ino as she caught her breath.

"You know I find it ironic how your huffing and puffing, like the big bad wolf, when your related to the three little pigs, Ino-pig." said Sakura, not letting Ino's shallow words get to her.

" What did you just say?!" Ino shouted, catching the students in the room attentions.

"Funny, I didn't know pigs were hard of hearing." taunted Sakura.

" Shut up Bill-board Brow, your just jealous 'cause I'm prettier than you and that Sasuke-kun likes me better."

" Ino, even if I tell you I don't like Sasuke, it's just going to go in one ear and out the other, so I'm gonna leave." said Sakura as she turned away. She has this argument with Ino every other day and is just really tired of it. She still loves Ino as a best friend, but if she doesn't stop talking about Sasuke, she's gonna get punched to the other side of the classroom, maybe that would knock some sense into her. Heh, yeah right. concluded Sakura." Hey guys, sorry it took a minute, I was dealing with the usual." she apologized, sighing at the end, while putting her head on her folded arms on the desk.

Minato just gave her a small smile and patted her head. He was used to this by now, plus Kakashi used to deal with similar matters with Gai, though instead of a boy they were fighting over who was the better ninja. Well at least Gai was, Kakashi just didn't want to hear Gai, when he started gloating about winning their 'competitions.'

Everyone soon quieted down when both Iruka and Mizuki entered the class." Now class today is the last day of the exams and will determine if you past or fail." began Iruka, then Mizuki continued where he left off." We will call you by alphabetical order and you will step into the testing room behind this door." he said pointing to the door near the window on the other side of the chalk-board. They then proceeded to walk to the door and called out the first student's name " Aburame Shino."

Sakura looked over towards Naruto and saw that he seemed worried. She placed her hand on his shoulder, causing his head to snap in her direction. " Don't be nervous Naruto, chakra control is all about focus and you will need that to pass this exam."

" But no matter how many times I perform the illusion, it comes out all messed up. I'm never going to pass." he put his head down, so that no one could see his face. Naruto has slowly warmed up to the idea of having a brother and to him Sakura was like an older sister always scolding him when he was being too reckless or pulling pranks. While Minato would just shake his head and sigh in exasperation, then ruffle his hair and smile. He didn't want to disappoint those two by failing the exams after how hard they all trained together, because now he had more precious people that he wanted to protect and make proud of him. He looked up when he felt someone ruffle his hair and was met with blue eyes identical to his own.

" Don't worry Naruto, regardless if you pass or fail we won't think any different of you. But if you do fail, then I will have something to tell you that will cheer you up, alright?" Minato said reassuringly.

Naruto gave a small grin." Alright Nii-san."

" Good now let's -" " Haruno Sakura." Minato was cut off by Mizuki.

" Guess that's my cue, wish me luck guys."

" You got this Sakura-chan!"

" We know you can do this."

Sakura nodded." Thanks."

Sakura entered the examination room and stood in the middle, while Mizuki took a seat next to Iruka at the long rectangular table at one end of the room.

" Alright Sakura-chan, please execute the henge no jutsu first, the the clone technique." ordered Iruka kindly.

" Hai. _H__enge no jutsu!_" there was a puff of smoke and once it cleared a perfect copy of Iruka was standing there.

" Very good." said man himself praised." Now the clone technique."

Sakura reverted back to herself and nodded. She did a few hand signs and another puff of smoke appeared revealing a twin looking Sakura.

" Nice job Sakura-chan, you pass. Here is your official ninja headband." said Iruka as Mizuki handed her a forehead protector and gave her a weird smile. Mizuki-sensei always gave Sakura the creeps, especially when she would catch him observing Naruto, with a strange expression. But she gave a small nod, mom always told her to be polite, even when uncomfortable.

Sakura made her way back to the boys and sat down in her spot in the middle.

" How did it go?" questioned Minato.

Sakura just pulled out her headband and placed it on the table.

" Way to go, Sakura-chan!"

She smiled." Thanks guys, your encouragement helped."

" Is there a reason as to why your not wearing it?"

" Yeah Sakura-chan, you should be letting everyone know that your a ninja now."

" I'm gonna wait until we all have our headbands, that way we all become ninjas together."

Both Minato and Naruto grinned at her, the latter's being larger.

By the time the teachers got down to 'U' class was about to end. However because only four students were left to test, they allowed the students to leave early and meet their parents, who were waiting for them outside. Sakura's parents had left three days ago to a small village not too far from Konoha for business and would be back by evening, so they could celebrate. She didn't mind because she had Minato and Naruto to keep her company. So she stayed in the class and waited for the boys.

" Uzumaki Naruto." the way Mizuki said his name sent a small chill down Sakura's back and caused Minato to subtly narrow his eyes at the man.

Minato had never liked the man, because he could tell that he hated Naruto. Mizuki would always try to find faults in Naruto and make huge deals out of them in front of the whole class. Minato would always be watching for any signs of hostility, with observing him in the class for so long, he would not put it past Mizuki to jump up and start attacking Naruto out of no where.

" Do you think he will be okay?" asked a worried Sakura.

" Don't worry, even if he doesn't past I can talk to the Hokage and work something out."

" Is that what you were going to tell Naruto if he failed?"

" Yeah, so he will be feeling better in no time."

When Naruto didn't come out of the exam room, but they called Ino in, it was obvious to Minato the he failed, plus the happy expression on Mizuki's face gave away what happened.

" If your looking for your brother he jumped out the window after failing." the man said all too chipper.

Minato and Sakura looked at each other, knowing where to find Naruto. They both dashed out of class and saw Naruto in a distance on the usual swing he would occupy. As they slowed their pace to a walk, they heard the adults conversation.

" Looks like the demon didn't pass." spoke a rather large woman.

" Hah! Serves the beast right." cheered a brunette haired man.

" Hopefully they just lock him up." said a woman, with malice in her tone.

" He should be banished from this village, he is a danger to all of us!" preached one man, while the rest nodded.

Minato's fist were tightening with every sentence spoken. He was about ready to turn around and lash out at them when his female companion beat him to it.

" Would you all just stop! You are suppose to be adults and yet your gossiping and talking about locking up a **child**. Naruto has never done anything wrong and yet you treat him as if he were the worst criminal on earth. Learn some manners or I'll teach you some, Shannaro!"

The adults just looked at her like she was crazy and backed away. Not wanting to deal with the loud pinkette.

Minato on the other hand was stunned silent for a few moments. He had seen the way people looked at Naruto and talked about him and made it a point to glare at them, while he put his arm around Naruto's shoulder and began talking about something random and acting as if he never heard it. He knew Naruto did not want to make a scene about that type of topic, so he respected his wishes and would get Naruto's mind off the adults. But with Naruto failing the exams and not knowing about the good news, he would just feel even worse after hearing what the adults just said, so he was about to shut them up, however Sakura beat him to it.

He knew that Sakura cared for Naruto and himself, but she was never around when the adults would start insulting him and wondered if she was a shamed of being around Naruto in public, but she proved him wrong. She didn't care who saw her with the suppose 'demon boy' and she did not care for the adults and their harsh words toward her friend. Minato realized that Sakura would be an even more important person in both Naruto's and his own life than he first thought and that made him happy enough to forget about what the adults said and smile.

" Come on Sakura, I thought we worked on your little anger problem." he joked and watched with amusement as she paused from her tirade and whipped her head around to glare at him.

" Are you saying I have anger issues?" she asked lowly.

Minato put on an obviously fake surprised face." Why Sakura, if you have anger issues, then Naruto has an unhealthy obsession with ramen."

" Hey leave my ramen alone!" called out Naruto. He had been watching the scene and was to shocked by Sakura's outburst, then smiled a bit when his brother started teasing Sakura, but knew he had to defend his ramen." The ramen gods will punish you for being so disrespectful to their holy creation!"

" The ramen gods can choke on leeks for all I care!" Sakura shouted back. She then turned to Minato and smiled sickly sweet. " Now Minato_-kun_ are you going to take back what you said willingly or am I gonna have to make you?"

Minato snorted." Like you can."

Her smile widened and it was really starting to freak both Uzumaki boys out." Wrong answer." not even three seconds later Minato was being chased around by Sakura, with Naruto cheering both of them on. However Naruto stopped cheering, when Mizuki put a hand on his shoulder. A but too rough for Naruto's liking and Minato and Sakura were too busy to notice.

" Naruto I wanted to speak with you before you left."

" What's up Mizuki-sensei?"

" I know of an alternative way for you to be able to become a genin."

" Really?!"

" Shh~. Yes, but you can't tell anyone and you have to do this tonight, because it's still genin exam day."

" I'm listening." said Naruto as he put on a serious face, determined to pass the exam.

* * *

It was now later in the day and both Minato and Naruto were on their way home after having just dropped Sakura off at her place. Minato had acted like he was to preoccupied to notice Mizuki, but his ninja skills were far too high for him not to notice the malicious man a few yards away. Whatever the man said caused Naruto to zone out half the time they were together and he kept fidgeting.

" Hey Nii-san, you can go ahead of me I have something to do. But don't worry I'll be home before it's too late."

" Alright, but if you're not home before dark, I'm gonna start looking for you."

" Deal. See ya later." Naruto called out as he ran the other way.

Minato noticed that the direction Naruto had just left in was a quick route to the Hokage's building. This must be something big if Naruto is heading there, so Minato masked his chakra and silently followed. He saw Naruto slip past all the guards and made a mental note to tell Sandaime, that he needed better security. He watched as Naruto went into the vault that held forbidden jutsu and weapons and grabbed the scroll for the shadow clone technique. Then Naruto dashed away when the alarm went off, with Minato hot on his trail. Naruto lead him to the small forest near the academy and Mizuki appeared from the shadows.

" Good work. Now hand me the scroll." he stated, while stretching his hand out.

" Don't do it Naruto!"

Everyone turned and saw Iruka standing there, with a distressed look on his face.

" Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?!" shouted Naruto in surprise.

" I followed you here after hearing what happened. Naruto there are several ANBU, jounin, and chuunin out looking for you. You need to return that scroll."

" Don't listen to him Naruto! He just doesn't want you to become a ninja!" yelled Mizuki." The truth is that Iruka hates you just like the villagers, because 12 years ago -"

" Mizuki stop it is forbidden to talk about it!"

"- His parents were killed by the kyuubi. You wanna know why everyone calls you a demon? It's because the kyuubi was sealed inside you, it's because you have the power of the kyuubi, and it's because _you are the nine-tailed fox!_" everything went quiet for a moment as realization set in towards Naruto." Now give me the scroll!"

Naruto backed away, his bangs covering his eye, then he took off deeper into the forest. Minato gave chase as well as the two teachers. Mizuki tried to get the scroll by transforming into Iruka, but was foiled when the real Iruka showed up, causing Naruto to hide behind a tree and open the scroll.

" Mizuki stop this at once, you have broken a lot of rules and will be punished!"

" I don't care, I'm not even part of this village. Once my boss gets his hands on that scroll, we will have more power and be able to crush this pathetic village."

" Not on my watch!" shouted Naruto as he jumped next to Iruka.

" Oh and what are you gonna do, you little demon!"

" Don't listen to him Naruto! You are not a demon and you have never done anything to harm anyone."

" Enough talk!" Mizuki quickly launched a giant shuriken at Naruto, but before it could make contact Iruka tackled Naruto and took the hit himself.

" Iruka-sensei...why?"

" You are just like me Naruto..*cough*..we were both lonely growing up. I wanted to be there for you and show you..*cough*..that life is not as bad as it seems."

" You take a break for now, Iruka-sensei." spoke Naruto as he helped Iruka into a sitting position, then stood up, with one hand on the scroll. " You said you were gonna destroy the leaf. Well your gonna have to get through me, Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage, believe it!"

" You brat!"

"_Shadow clone jutsu!_" shouted Naruto as dozens of Narutos' appeared." Charge!"

They all rushed towards Mizuki and began beating him up till he was knocked unconscious.

" Naruto, that was amazing." exclaimed Iruka after all the clones poofed away.

" Yeah well, I was not about to let some scum steal from my village." said Naruto with his fox-like grin.

" Close your eyes for a moment." stated Iruka. Naruto gave him a confused look, but complied." Okay, open them."

Naruto did and saw that Iruka's headband was missing, so he felt for his forehead, but was met with cool metal instead.

" Congratulations Naruto, you are now an official ninja." said Iruka with a smile.

Several poofs were heard and three ANBU appeared around the two." Umino-san, what happened here." demanded one with a rat mask.

" Well ANBU-san, Mizuki is a traitor and was sent here to steal one of our village's forbidden techniques. The scroll is right here and we are ready to hand it over"

The rat masked ANBU nodded his head towards the bear and the squirrel. The bear grabbed the scroll, the rat grabbed the traitor, and the squirrel said that she would escort Iruka to the hospital.

" No. I'm fine, plus I need to get Naruto home."

" I think I can manage that sensei." came a new voice. Everyone turned and saw Minato leaning against a tree.

" Nii-san?!"

" What? I did say that I would come for you if it got dark."

Naruto's eyes got mist, but he smiled brightly." Iruka-sensei, get to the hospital, so that you can be the one to assign me my team tomorrow. I think I'll be alright."

Iruka and the ANBU nodded and disappeared.

" So, you passed, huh?"

" Yep! Let's go show Sakura-chan, so that she can wear her headband tomorrow with no problems."

" Un."

* * *

The following day found two Uzumaki brothers waiting for their pink haired friend again. The only difference was that they were excited and nervous, because today they would be put in genin teams. Even Minato was a bit concerned, because though he knew who his teacher would be, the Hokage would not tell him who his teammates were.

_'Stubborn old man, not even giving me hints.'_

" Good morning you two!" chirped an all too familiar voice. Both boys turned and were shocked to see that Sakura had a new outfit on.

Instead of her dress and green spandex shorts, she was wearing a long sleeve off the shoulder red shirt, that had one thick white line trailing down the arms, with her white circle on her back. Black form-fitting shorts that went mid-thigh, gray knee-high boots, her long mid-back hair was put into a low side pony tail, so it trailed down near her left arm, held together by the red ribbon she would normally have on top of her head, and in place of that was her ninja headband. Coupled with her gray kunai holster on her right thigh and her matching weapons pouch.

" Wow Sakura-chan you look good!"

" I agree."

" Thanks, I was going for a nice yet functional look. My dress was not a the right choice for my profession."

Minato nodded at this, he was wondering if she would be able to work around her old outfit or if she would realize she needed to change it before she got hurt.

" KYA~ SASUKE-KUN~!" came the annoying screech of a dozen or more fan girls. They were all crowded around Sasuke's seat, which happened to be in the row in front of them.

" Sasuke-kun has got to be the hottest guy ever!" squealed one girl, while other around agreed.

" Hold it! The hottest guy around here is not Sasuke-kun, it's Minato-kun!" yelled a girl with brown pigtails, while the group of girls around her nodded their heads in agreement.

" Though Minato-kun is hot, the tall, _dark_, and handsome Sasuke-kun wins!" argued another Sasuke-fan girl.

" Yeah well the tall, _bright_, and handsome Minato-kun is also kind, therefore _he_ wins!" After that comment a fight broke out between all the girls. They were biting, hair pulling, smacking, and shoving each other.

" Humph! I don't see what's so great about Sasuke. I mean I know Nii-san is awesome, but Sasuke..."

" Some people like the mysterious prince type." shrugged Sakura. But this caused Naruto to think that she also like him and he didn't like the idea of his Nee-chan falling for a bastard like Sasuke. So he climbed down and got in Sasuke's face to see what was so special about him. The fan girls stopped fighting and started yelling at Naruto to get away from ' their Sasuke-kun', but were ignored as the two proceeded to glare at each other. but everything came to a halt, when Naruto was knocked forward and ended up kissing Sasuke.

They broke apart barely a moment later and began coughing and spitting.

" Gross! I can't believe I lost my first kiss to a teme like you!"

" Dobe, I'm gonna kill you!"

Naruto suddenly sensed a lot of dark auras to his right, he turned and saw all the fan girls glaring at him and getting ready to pummel him. But luckily for him Iruka chose that moment to show up.

" Alright class take your seats I will announce teams now and after lunch your senseis will be picking you up. However due to the uneven number of students it might be a little different than usual. Now Team one..."

" I hope I'm on a team with at least one of you guys." said Sakura letting her worries display on her face.

" Me too, as long as I'm not stuck with Teme, I should be fine."

" Team seven shall be where the change happens instead of three students it will be four. Now the following students are on the team Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Minato" Iruka ignored the shout of 'Alright!' in the background." Uchiha Sasuke," he looked up at the cry of 'Noo~' with a stern look to tell him to be quiet." and...Yamanaka Ino."

" Alright, I'm with Sasuke-kun and Minato-kun!"

" What, were stuck with that fan girl?!" shouted Naruto...again. While Sakura looked disappointed and Minato looked a bit upset.

" Wait, I'm sorry I read ahead of the list because of Naruto. The real final member is...Haruno Sakura."

" What!? Forehead!? I deserve to be on that team!"

" Alright Sakura-chan! We are all on the same team!" cheered Naruto. Sakura had a bright smile on her face and Minato grinned in approval as well.

" Team Eight consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata."

" Team Nine. . . and finally Team Ten is Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino."

" I'm stuck with lazy ass and food boy, no fair!"

The bell rang, signalling lunch time.

" Good luck everyone on your new teams and have a good day!" called Iruka as he left the classroom first.

" Come on guys, let's go get ramen to celebrate!"

" Naruto we eat ramen all the time." said Sakura with a sigh.

" Yeah Naruto, how about we go to that barbeque restaurant for today?"

" But ramen..."

" Will be there for dinner time, we can change it up every now and then Naruto."

" Plus you need to stop eating only ramen. The only other time you do is when I practically force feed you." said Minato in a scolding tone.

Sakura walked over to Sasuke, while Minato was scolding Naruto about healthy eating.

" Would you like to join us Sasuke, so it can be a team lunch."

" Che, annoying. I don't want to waste my time with people like you, so just leave me alone." he answered as he walked away.

Sakura frowned." You didn't need to be so rude about it, I was just asking." she mumbled and walked back over to the boys, not really caring about Sasuke, if he was gonna be such a jerk. "so what are we eating?"

Minato looked at her with a victorious look, while Naruto looked like a kicked puppy. They both answered, one more enthusiastic than the other." Barbeque."

* * *

After lunch all the students went back to the classroom and one by one teams were being picked up by their senseis, until only team seven remained. They have been waiting an hour and a half.

" Argh! When is he gonna get here!"

" I know Naruto, I don't like waiting either, but your complaints are only making it worse." said Sakura, to which Minato nodded his head in agreement.**' Cha! When our sensei gets here, I'm gonna give him the beating of a lifetime! Shannaro!'  
**_' You can't do that Inner, he's our teacher. But how about once we see what his face looks like, you can put a picture of it up on your dart board and go nuts?'_offered Sakura.**' Hmm~, fine, I'll settle with that.'** grumbled a reluctant inner._' Good girl.'_**' I am not a dog.'** Sakura drowned out her Inner as she watched Naruto put a eraser at the top of the door.

Minato had a feeling this would happen. Ever since Obito's death, Kakashi had been showing up for mission briefings and anything else later and later. Looks like the habit stuck and only got worse.

" What are you doing now Naruto?" asked Minato.

" Hehe, this is what sensei gets for being late."

" He's a jounin, he will never fall for that." spoke Sasuke for the first time.

Naruto was about to argue, but stopped when they all heard foot steps coming closer. A gloved hand slid the door open and silver hair appeared in the door way. The eraser fell and hit it's target. Naruto started laughing, Sasuke looked shocked that a jounin fell for Naruto's prank, Sakura was watching Inner throw darts at their new teachers face, and Minato observed his ex-student.

" Hmm~, my first impression of you all; I hate you." everyone gave him deadpan looks, he just eye smiled and said." Meet me on the roof." and poofed away.

The all walked towards the roof, most of them not knowing what to expect. Once there, they all took their seats that went like this, from the right(of kakashi) it was Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and then Minato.

" Alright now that were all here, why don't we introduce ourselves?"

" What do you want us to say?" questioned Sakura.

" You likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for that future, things like that."

" Well, why don't you go first sensei?" asked Naruto.

" Alright. My name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes are none of your concern, dreams for the future...never really thought about it, and as for hobbies, well I have lots of hobbies." Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke sweat dropped realizing all he said was his name.

_' Kakashi, how much has everyone's death really effected you...' _thought Minato sadly.

" Okay you in the orange go."

" My name is Uzumaki Naruto, believe it! I like training with Nii-san and Sakura-chan, ramen, and pranks. My dislikes are Teme and the three minutes I have to wait when cooking ramen, hobbies...pranks I guess, and my dream is to become Hokage! That way people will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody!" he finished fist pumping the air.

_' He certainly has grown up alright...' _" Okay, you in the blue."

" Hn. My name is Uchiha Sasuke, there are not a lot of things I like and a lot of things I dislike, my hobby is training and I have no dream, but an ambition and that is to kill a certain man." Silence was left in his wake.

Naruto backed away a bit._' Jeez, I hope he doesn't mean me.'_

_' I had a feeling he would turn out like this.'_

" Okay, girl go."

" My name is Haruno Sakura, I like dango, training with Minato and Naruto, and art, my dislikes are spicy foods, fan girls, and people who hurt my friends. My hobbies are training, reading, and many different types of art, my dream is to be a great kunoichi, so that I can be there for my friends and comrades." both Minato and Naruto smiled at her, to which she returned.

_' Well this is unexpected. Maybe this girl won't just be in the boys shadows.'_

He turned his head to the last boy and paused. He never did look at the files the Hokage gave to him, because he never past any team, but now that he was getting a good look at the boy, Kakashi realized that he looked even more similar to his old sensei than Naruto.

_' Did sensei and Kushina-san have another son?'_

He regained his composure and spoke." And finally, you in the track suit."

" My name is Uzumaki Minato." he saw Kakashi stiffen a bit." I like training with Naruto and Sakura and homemade cooking, I dislike those who treat my friends and brother badly and those who try to harm the leaf. My hobbies are reading and training and my dream for the future...is a secret." he gave a wistful smile.

" Aww, Nii-san no fair, you never tell us what your dream is."

" You will find out eventually Naruto, so don't worry about it."

" Good your all unique in your own way. Now tomorrow we will have our first mission. It is a test to see if you will stay with me or not."

" What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

" Well, don't blame me if you don't like it, but out of the ten teams there are only three will become official genin, the rest will have to go back to the academy."

" What?!" shouted Sakura and Naruto, while Sasuke looked upset and Minato gave no reaction.

" So meet me tomorrow at training field three at six in the morning, oh and don't eat breakfast or you'll puke." then he poofed away, planning on talking to the Hokage about his students.

" Guys, don't listen to him about skipping breakfast, it's a trick." said Minato, before Sasuke could leave.

" Hn, whatever." said boy responded as he left the roof.

" How do you know it was a trick Minato?"

" His eye had a gleam in it that told me he was lying."

" Awesome! Now I don't have to skip out on ramen in the morning!"

Both Minato and Sakura sighed, Naruto will never change.

* * *

It was late that night, going on 10:30 p.m., when Minato finished his training he does in the woods near Konoha almost every night. He was thinking about his student and knew that when he left earlier, Kakashi was going to do some research on him. He was not worried because there was not much on him except for his academy days, but that would not give much away.

As he was walking the now familiar trail to his house he heard singing, it was done by a beautiful voice, causing him to stop and listen.

_'Now we've come so far from darkness and we'll never be apart'_

He looked in the direction of the voice and took to the roof tops and saw an outline of a person in the distance.

_' So we leave for tomorrow, to start our lives again'_

He began silently moving closer to the figure he saw and was able to make out long hair.

_' Find me there my tiny feathers, oh my holy ancient days'_

Once he was on the same roof he noticed that it was Sakura, who was singing and she had her eyes closed.

_' You will cover my sadness and ring your song of thee... for me~'_

She slowly opened her eyes, the moon light-giving them an ominous glow.

" That was beautiful, Sakura." commented Minato, causing Sakura to jump a little. She turned to him, blushing a bit.

" Minato, you scared me. How long have you been there?"

" I heard you sing about coming far from the darkness and then made it here by the time you were on ancient days."

" Oh, what were you doing out so late?"

" I was training. Now can you tell me why you are singing on your roof?"

" I do this to calm my nerves and to admire the moon. It's nice to just not even think about anything for a moment and enjoy the here and now, without having to worry about the consequences for it."

Minato hum'd in agreement." You're the first person I've ever met that does that. Most ninjas train or drink themselves numb."

Sakura giggled." Well, I'm too tired to train and too young to drink, so I settle for an alternative."

" You said you do this to calm your nerves, are you worried about tomorrow?"

" Yeah, however I mainly worry about the ninja life we will have if we do pass."

Minato gave her a questioning glance, so she continued.

" Our generation was able to go to the academy and graduate like normal, but I can't help thinking we will have the most problems in the future, you know? Like the calm before the storm." she brought her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She was getting a bit cold, being in only a white t-shirt and pink pajama shorts. Minato noticed this and took off his jacket, handing it to her. She looked surprised, but took it and quietly thanked him.

" _Hi no kage wa sato o terasu._" he said lowly.

" Eh?"

" The fire's shadow illuminates the village. Meaning that as long as the fire lives we will never give way to darkness, do you know what fire I'm talking about?"

" Could it be the will of fire?"

" Hai, so don't worry about the future. We will take everything one step at a time and we will all stand together if an enemy presents itself. Like you said this was the normal graduation generation, but that doesn't mean we can't be the closest and strongest one as well."

Sakura smiled softly at him and he gave a crooked smile back. They both turned and watched the moon for a little while longer.

* * *

**Done! Sorry it's been so long, I had things to do, but I wanted to give you guys a nice long chapter for the wait.**

**I have recently made an account on deviantart, because I noticed that there was barely any Minasaku fan art and I decided to make my own, so check it out if you'd like. I am using the same pen name, so no worries there.**

**Please let me know what you think of this chapter, I enjoy hearing your thoughts. Also thanks to those who reviewed the first two chapters it means a lot!  
**

**Thx for reading and see you next chapter!**

**Tah-Tah~**


	4. Chapter 4

A New Hope

**Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto, if i did Sakura would never have been a weak fan girl and she would have knocked some sense into her team a LONG time ago, cause you know they need it.**

Minato was on his way to training field three, with his zombie-like brother slowly trailing behind him. Minato himself was not exhausted as Naruto, however he is a bit tired from not being completely used to jumping out of bed for mission, like he used to be. In the distance he spotted Sakura walking a bit more energized than Naruto, but still lagging and Sasuke looked a little tired as well, though not as obvious as Naruto or Sakura.

" Morning..(yawn)..guys." greeted Sakura as she set her pack down and leaned against the near by tree.

" Morning." responded Minato as Naruto dropped to the ground and proceeded to pass out. Minato sat in between Sakura and Naruto, while Sasuke jumped up into the tree on the other side of the clearing. Minato shook his head, knowing that getting the Uchiha to use teamwork would be a challenge. Minato looked at Naruto and a faint smile graced his lips as he sent a silent prayer thanking the kamis for giving a chance to be in his son's life. he then looked over to sakura, who was trying to keep her eyes open." you should rest some more as well Sakura."

" But sensei-"

" Probably won't be here for a while, if yesterday was anything to go by. Just get some sleep and I'll wake you up later."

" Alright, thanks Minato." she said as she drifted off.

* * *

By the time she woke up, Sakura knew she was no longer in the same position she was when she fell asleep. Instead of propped up against the rough frigid tree, she was on her side and her head was resting on something cozy and warm, while she felt fingers scraping softly against her scalp following her hair to the top of her low ponytail. She had to resist the urge to purr at the feeling. However she was confused by these things, when did she move? Why is this person petting her? WHO is the person petting her? She slowly began the process of opening her eyes, trying to be careful of the morning sun.

Minato knew that Sakura was conscious, when her breathing patterns changed. He watched as she slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head to find out who she has been laying on. She stared at Minato for a minute as she connected the _he _was the one she had been laying on and once she did she blushed.

" S-sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." she apologized sheepishly, while fiddling with her pony-tail and not making eye contact.

" It's alright, you were just tired and besides Kakashi is not even here yet." he said a bit amused by her embarrassment.

" A-ah." she then looks up at the sky." How long have I been out?"

" About two and a half hours, so Kakashi should be here soon. Which reminds me, I should probably wake Naruto up."He leaned over and started shaking Naruto's shoulder." Wake up Naruto, we need to talk about what we are going to do about the test." however Naruto was still asleep, not even fazed.

" Hmm~, I got it. Naruto if you don't wake up, no more ramen for three days." said Sakura sternly.

" No! Sakura-chan, how can you be so cruel?!" shouted Naruto as he bolted up.

" She's not being cruel, Naruto." cut in Minato." As ninja, we have to be ready to be called for a mission at any given moment. So eventually, you are going to need to break your deep sleeper habit."

Naruto just grumbled to himself, but soon stopped when they all heard the sound of a poof. Everyone turned to face Kakashi, Sasuke was making his way over to the rest of the group.

" YOUR LATE!" shouted both Naruto and Sakura.

" Sorry, an old lady needed help with her groceries and me being the kind ninja I am just had to aid her." said accused man explained.

" LIAR!" the both shouted again , while Sasuke "hn'd" in agreement and Minato just looked on as if used to routine already, which he was.

" Alright. Today I will be testing you and seeing if you will remain genin or not." he began as he pulled out a chicken alarm clock." This clock is set for noon, you have until then to grab these three bells from me." he said holding up the bells. Minato knew that those were the same bells he used on his students and that, when they took the bell test a second time he brought forth the third bell and gave one to each of his students. Seeing as both Rin and Obito died, they must have given their bells to Kakashi.

" But Kakashi-sensei, there are only three bells and four of us." pointed out Sakura.

" Yes, that is because whoever does not get a bell, will be automatically sent back to the academy." the genin, except Minato, tensed." Not only that, but they will be tied to one of these three post and will not receive any lunch."

_' That's why he wanted us to skip breakfast...'_ the same three thought, however they were also thanking Minato for telling them not to listen, well two were the other just kept silent.

" You need to come at me with the intent to kill me or else you won't stand a chance, you all have three hours to get a bell. Ready..." however Naruto began charging at him with a kunai, but before it could connect, Kakashi moved and grasped his hand so that the kunai was pointing towards Naruto's head from behind, all four genin tensed." Calm down, I didn't even say go." He released Naruto." Begin!" All the genin scattered into the trees and bushes.

_' At least they are able to hide themselves well enough...' _ he trailed off as he stared at Naruto, who was just standing there." You know compared to the others, you're a bit weird."

" Oh yeah, well the only thing weird around here is your hair cut!"

" First lesson, taijutsu." he said as he reached into his weapons pouch, confusing his team as he pulled out a book. " Don't mind the book, it won't matter if I'm reading it or not." however that just ticked Naruto off as he charged at Kakashi and began swinging and kicking, only to have Kakashi dodge everyone with ease. Kakshi then appeared behind him, with his fingers together.

" Naruto, get out of there he's gonna destroy you!" shouted Sakura as she noticed the tiger seal.

" Too late." spoke Kakashi as he jutted his hands forward." Secret village leaf jutsu; a thousand years of death!" his fingers jammed right into Naruto's butt, sending him flying into the water.

" He just poked him..." said Sakura, slightly disgusted.

" These two are idiots." stated Sasuke, from his hiding place in the trees.

" Kakashi, I am beginning to worry for you now more than ever." said Minato, sweat dropping at his student's actions.

But soon dozens of Naruto's appeared and charged Kakashi. Though he dodged them all and wound up getting rid of most of the clones, so Naruto and the three clones left engaged him in another taijutsu attack, resulting in Kakashi using a henge technique and capturing Naruto, causing the boy to hang upside down from a tree. Sasuke launched several kunai and shuriken, but Kakashi did a substitution jutsu. Both took off into the woods, one chasing the other.

Sakura and Minato walked over to Naruto." Naruto, you should have known Kakashi-sensei would never just _drop_ a bell and forget about it." scolded Sakura, while Minato cut Naruto down.

" I know I know."

" Naruto I'm saying this to you because you don't know. He is probably gonna be doing things like this throughout the test, not really fighting, but trapping and we can't get caught before the timer runs out."

" Alright. But I'm gonna find him and get those bells before Teme does!" he exclaims as he is about to run off into the woods, however Minato grabs his collar and pulls him back.

" Do you remember how well it went the first two times you went charging at him? Even if you used shadow clones, he was able to confuse you and trap you."

" What I don't get is, how does he expect us to go one on one with him and beat him? I mean he's a jounin and were fresh out of the academy genin. It makes no sense."

" Think about what you just said Sakura." she looked up at Minato, with confused eyes." Think about the rules Kakashi gave us and all the things he said till now."

Sakura thought back to when Kakashi told them about the passing rate, the skipping breakfast, and the rules." Well the skipping breakfast and getting here early was just to trick us into being too exhausted for the test, the passing rate scared us because we don't want to go back to the academy, and the only rule is that we have to get a bell before noon." she then thought about what she just said and her eyes lit up in realization." He never said we had to attack him one on one."

Minato smiled a bit." Yep, the only rule is to get a bell, however because of the rate on passing, we were led to think that we needed to get a bell on our own and fight separately. So how about we come up with a plan to take him down, before he is done with Sasuke?"

Both genin nodded at him and they huddled together.

* * *

Kakashi had just finished dealing with Sasuke and he was a bit surprised and impressed. The boy may not have had his sharingan, but his fire jutsu skills were great as well as his taijutsu. Kakashi could really be able to help the boy in his training and maybe get him to not go down the path of revenge.

However right now he needed to focus on the innocent looking pink-haired girl, trying, and failing, at hiding from him. He sighed and knew that despite her goal, if she could not get the basics down properly, she would be forced to quite soon or he could try to pass the boys, because the three of them were enough for a team. He crept up behind the girl and put his hand on her shoulder, but the second he did he knew something was off and jumped back, just as she exploded. Before he could recover, shuriken, kunai, and senbon were sent at him from all directions. He jumped out of the way and avoided them all, but then a dozen Naruto's appeared causing him to break out into another taijutsu battle.

But as he was finishing off the last clone a fire ball came his way, he jumped high, but felt a presence behind him and turned to see Minato, with his fist aimed, Kakashi blocked the barrage of hits the came his way, barely. Then the real Naruto appeared along with Sasuke and Sakura. All four of them battled him, until Sakura sent some senbon his way and Minato did a round house kick, causing Kakashi to lean back low, while Sakura did a few hand signs, and finally jumped back towards her teammates. The fighting had stopped as the timer went off.

" Well that was good, but you all still failed." said Kakashi dusting himself off.

" Look again, Kakashi-sensei!" shouted Naruto.

Kakashi looked down at his bells and noticed them fizzing, until finally disappearing. He looked back up in surprise and saw that Sakura was holding all three bells. Genjutsu.

" Very good Sakura, now who are you going to give them to?" he asked, seeing if she got the true meaning of the test or not.

Sakura however, just shook her head and replied." That's just the thing Kakashi-sensei, it doesn't matter who I give the bells to."

" And why is that?" he questioned again. But this time Minato spoke up.

" Because the real test was about teamwork, not to see who can get a bell."

" Yeah Kakashi-sensei! You said all that crap, just to trick us!" yelled Naruto. Sasuke just "Hn'd" in agreement.

Kakashi's eye crinkled as he smiled at them. " Well then, if that's the case, congratulations, you all pass."

* * *

It was late that evening and Kakashi was at the memorial stone as usual. He was silently shocked though, when Minato landed next to him and he did not sense the boy at all.

" Good evening, Kakashi."

" Good evening."

" Mourning lost comrades?"

" And friends."

Minato did a few hand seal and put up a genjutsu around them." Kakashi I need to talk to you about something important." Minato said in a serious voice.

Kakashi trying his best not to show his shock, sat down and silently gestured for Minato to do the same.

" What do you know of the fourth's death." he started. He saw Kakashi stiffen, but knew that this would be hard for him to talk about.

" The same thing that everyone knows, he died fighting the Kyuubi."

" I heard that you were he one to find his wife and son."

Kakashi gave a small nod." The fourth's body was never recovered, but his robes and headband were."

" Why do you think that is?"

" I assumed it had something to do with the seal sensei placed on Naruto." Kakashi answered not really caring that he just told his student who his teacher was.

" Are you mad at Naruto, because the fourth died sealing the Kyuubi in him?" Kakashi took a deep breath and in the back of his mind wondered why the boy was not shocked to hear that the legendary fourth hokage was his teacher.

" Honestly, I was at first. I had just lost my teammates and then not even a year later, I lose my sensei. For a while I never wanted to associate myself with him for that reason. However once I saw him around the village a few times as he got older, I saw him put on a brave face and smile even through all the hateful things people were saying about him. I saw him get tossed out of places, get excluded from kids, and saw his confused and hurt face, when he thought no one was looking. And when I did I realized that it was not his fault. He never asked for the Kyuubi and still does not even know of it, he never wanted to be shunned by the villagers, and he certainly never wanted to be an orphan. Once I realized those things, I could not stay mad at him."

" Why are you telling me all this, when you could have just said you liked Naruto from the beginning?"

" I figured as his brother, you would want to know the truth about what your brother went through and what some people's feelings were."

" Now, what if I told you, I'm not his brother?" he asked lowly.

Kakashi focused in on him.

" You have wondered why I look more like him than Naruto haven't you. Also why I'm not shocked to know that he is your sensei. Well it's because I already knew and because I have a secret of my own." He looked Kakashi dead in the eyes and said.

" I am Namikaze Minato."

Kakashi's lone eye widened as he just stared at Minato for a few moments." Your lying." he finally said.

" I am not."

" Sensei was killed."

" My body was never recovered, because I was never killed."

" How can I believe you?"

" Ask me anything."

" Who were my teammates and how did they die?" Only kakashi and his sensei knew what exactly happened to them.

" Obito died by getting crushed by a boulder on your first mission as leader and before he did, he had Rin implant his sharingan eye into you, while Rin died sacrificing herself and taking your chidori to the heart."

Kakashi took a shaky breath." H-how?"

" The shinigami, who was supposed to kill me, told me that the gods wanted me to live and change the horrible future that was to come."

" But why did you not just live on right after the attack, instead of showing up eleven years later as a kid?"

" I was not given the choice and was told that it was, because everyone thought I would die at the time, the gods used that as my cover story, so that I would not have old and new enemies after me already."

" So your really sensei? Can you still do your thunder-god technique?"

" Yes and yes, though I need to work my speed and chakra levels back to what they once were."

" Well that explains why you only call me Kakashi."

Minato just grinned, then placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder." I'm here for you Kakashi and I do not want you blaming yourself for your teammates death, you were not their sensei I was." he then leaned back and propped up one leg, looking up at the starry sky." Even with my speed and intelligence, I was not able to protect them. It hurts Kakashi. Knowing that I lost them and Kushina all because I was careless."

" No one knew what was going to happen sensei. It is not your fault at all, plus you could have been taken along with them, but you weren't."

" I want you to think like that as well Kakashi. I could have lost you on either mission as well as when you were in ANBU, please don't give up on the bonds you have formed with people and the new ones you can form with your team. Besides I will be here with you, so that you don't make my mistakes or huge ones of your own."

Kakashi smiled truly at this.

* * *

For the past few weeks Team seven has done d-rank missions. Naruto has complained that they deserve better missions, Sakura has wished for more team training, Sasuke has wanted to just get away from his team and train by himself, and Minato has wondered who would snap first.

Ever since they past the bell test, Kakashi only trains them for about an hour, since he shows up late and even then, he just has them train among themselves, while he reads. Or he gives them one to two d-rank missions for the day. Needless to say, none of the genin are liking how team activities have gone.

" Guys, I think we need to have a talk with Kakashi-sensei." began Sakura. All four of them were waiting for Kakashi as usual.

" Your darn right we do!" shouted Naruto in agreement." He needs to give us better missions, that are worth our skills!"

" No Naruto, that is not what I meant."

" It's not?"

" We need to do some real team training and for more than just an hour, we need to not only improve our skills as personal ninja, but our teamwork, and finally we need a sensei, who will help us do those things, so that when a real mission comes along, were prepared for it."

" But Sakura-chan, we already beat Kakashi-sensei at his test of teamwork."

" She's right Naruto. We were able to beat him, because he did not know of our abilities, he underestimated us, and we had time to plan. In a real mission we are not gonna be able to pause in the middle of a battle and plan an attack, plus we never defeated Kakashi, so we need to work on our skills." explained Minato.

" This is a waste of my time, I don't need you all holding me back." said Sasuke, getting ready to leave.

" What do you think training is for Sasuke?" questioned Minato, but he answered himself." It is to get stronger, however you can only get so strong on your own. You need to fight other people in order to learn to better defend yourself in battle and you need someone to point out the flaws that you yourself can not see. You will not be able to take on every opponent you face and even then you will not always be fighting a one on one battle. Meaning, no matter what you say and think, if you don't start working with us now, you will be the first to fall later, by rushing into a battle you can't win on your own." Minato did not want to go through the same thing he went through with Kakashi, he has had enough of the lone wolf act. Though he respects their strengths and personalities, he will not put up with their ' holier than thou' attitudes.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes." What would you know about opponents and battles?" he sneered.

" I know that arrogance will get you killed, I know that your wall of indifference crumbles when your skills are put into question, and I know that you have not awakened your sharingan on your own, even after training by yourself for years. So why don't you get off your high horse and realize that being an Uchiha does not make you greater than everyone else. You are not weak for asking for help or showing emotions, because in the end it only helps you improve and shows that your human." finished Minato. It was silent for a few moments, until Sakura spoke up.

" He's right Sasuke. Asking for help does not make you weak and we will certainly not look down on you for doing it. My physical abilities were horrible, before Minato and Naruto began helping me, but in the end, I ended up graduating as one of the best kunoichi of the year. Their help never made me weak, only stronger and that is what a team is suppose to do."

" Yeah Teme, we don't care about your 'Uchiha honor', as long as you get stronger with us and continue being the brooding bastard we got stuck with, then all's good with me." spoke Naruto with his fox-like grin.

Sasuke was silent for a few moments.*sigh* " Whatever." he stated, however he did not get up to leave and the others realized he agreed to coöperate.

*Poof*

" YOUR LATE!" shouted Sakura and Naruto.

" Sorry, I was on my way here, when I remembered I needed to get new shoes. So I -"

" LIAR!"

" Alright. so today were gonna go and ask for another mission -"

" Hold on kakashi-sensei." interrupted Sakura.

he looked at her perplexed.

" We would like to train instead of doing a mission today."

" Yeah and by training, we mean you _actually_ teaching us! Not just reading your perverted book!" spoke Naruto.

" We don't mean to sound rude, however training for and hour, with no real guidance is not going to make us stronger. As our sensei, you should be spotting our weak spots and flaws in order to help us work on them." said Minato, looking at him pointedly.

Kakashi sighed and put away his book.

" Okay, then today I want you to partner up. I will watch you all spar and see what points you need to work on, as well as your strengths." announced Kakashi.

" Minato, can you be my partner?" asked Sakura.

" Aww~, Sakura-chan, why can't I be your partner, I don't want to have to be with Teme." whined Naruto.

" Because Naruto, I know that if I'm paired with either of you, you won't take me seriously or push me to my limit. I'm not a fragile princess and enemies out there won't treat me like one, they will try to cut me down like any other ninja, so I need to be able to defend myself and counter them." she stated, daring him with her eyes to tell her she's wrong.

Naruto pouted, until Minato came over and ruffled his hair.

" She's right Naruto. Protecting her won't help her in the end, it will only keep her from growing, like the rest of us. "

" But, I don't want to hurt Sakura-chan."

" We know that, however in a spar you need to treat her like you would me or Sasuke. You don't want to hurt us right?"

" Yeah, I mean, I want to win, but not by beating you both black and blue, until your coughing up blood."

" Just think of it like that with Sakura as well. Watch our spar and see the difference between trying to push someone to their limit and trying to hurt someone." Said Minato as he walked out into the clearing, where Sakura stood. Kakashi was inthe middle.

" Shake hands." they did." And...begin!" both of them jumped back, while Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke were watching the fight intensely. Naruto, to see how he was suppose to fight Sakura, Sasuke to see how strong his teammates were, and Kakashi to not only see Sakura's strengths and weaknesses, but to see where his sensei is at level wise.

Sakura took out several kunai and shuriken and launched them, Minato dodged them all, however two came back and cut both his right arm and left leg. Minato blinked in surprise, before remembering Sakura's work with chakra strings and quickly deduced to watching out for all weapons she throws. He then charged her and they began a series of punches, kicks, blocks, and ducks,until Sakura aimed her fist at Minato's face. However Minato dodged and was able to grab her wrist and flip her on the ground. She looked up in shock, but quickly began rolling away, when his foot was coming down towards her face. She barely heard Naruto's cry of 'Nii-san!' as she quickly got to her feet.

Minato appeared behind her and as she turned to face him, he sent a kick toward her stomach, sending her back a few meters. Sakura quickly did a hand-stand and landed in a crouched position. She stood straight, did a few hand signs, and launched some more kunai and shuriken. Minato dodged them all and was looking out for any to come back at him from behind, however he was impaled in the front this time. He was hit in both his arms by shuriken and had a kunai in his right thigh. He wondered why he did not see them coming, when he remembered the hand-signs she did.

" Genjutsu." he whispered.

Sakura charged at him again just as he realized it and sent a punch at his face, this time connecting, but with Minato's fast reflexes, he grabbed her wrist and adjusted, so that Sakura was under him as they hit the ground. He pinned both of her wrist, with one hand and placed a kunai at her neck.

" I win." he said.

Sakura huffed." You were holding back."

" I pushed you enough, besides you were as well." she just looked at him." I know you have been working with explosive tags, for a little while now." her eyes widened for a second.

" Fine, but next time, I'm gonna push you." she exclaimed, pouting a bit.

Minato grinned." Looking forward to it."

" Hey Nii-san, are you done flirting with Sakura-chan, while you're sitting on top of her?" yelled Naruto from across the field, snickering with Kakashi.

Sakura blushed a bit, while Minato looked slightly put out.

" I-idiot! We were not flirting!" she screamed back embarrassed.

" No?" spoke Kakashi." But you two are looking quiet comfortable, right now."

Minato quickly got off sakura and helped her up. They both went back over to the rest of the team and Sakura smacked the back of Naruto's head, while Minato bopped Kakashi's.

" Just start the next spar already." said Minato, plopping down next to his old student.

While the boys began sparing Sakura moved towards Minato as he was pulling out the kunai and shuriken, from his body.

" Hey Minato, can I take a look at your injuries?"

" Hm?"

" I have been reading a few medical text and although I am not able to use medical chakra yet, I have learned how to properly clean and dress wounds."

Both Minato and Kakashi, who looked over at hearing the word 'medical', stared at Sakura, except they did not see her. They saw a girl with short brown hair and kind brown eyes, looking at them with a smile.

" Guys?" questioned Sakura, snapping both boys out of their thoughts.

" Oh, sorry. Sure that would be great, thanks a lot."

Sakura smiled." No problem it's the least I can do."

After the boys spar, Kakashi stood up and began giving feedback to everyone.

" Sasuke your skills are good, however your arrogance caused you to get hit more than a few times from Naruto. You need to remember that just because an opponent is down, does not mean he's out. Naruto, you still need to stop charging head on, because you will not always get a second chance to attack, so you need to make the first one count. You both will be working with a few of my shadow clones. Sasuke, you will be sparing against two, in order to try and see through deception and Naruto, you will be trying to sneak up on one, while avoiding the other, to work on speed and stealth." he did a few and signs and four Kakashis appeared. " I will check up on you later to see how you training is going, now go." both boys and clones went into the woods.

" Now as for you Sakura, you seem to have no ninjutsu, besides academy standards. Your reaction time is pretty good, so we can work on that later, as well as your stamina. Your chakra strings are good, though you can only use a few, however because you do not have a huge amount of chakra, you should not be using them unless necessary. I suggest you use wires for now since they are like chakra strings, because even if you pour a little chakra into them, you will only be using half or less of the amount you use to create the chakra strings." he concluded.

" So you want me to go get some wires and practice with those?"

" For now, until you are able to use them efficiently in battle. But we will also work with your other weak spots later."

Sakura nodded and turned to leave.

" Sakura," Minato called out." also buy gloves to protect your fingers from the wires, trust me."

She smiled." Alright, thanks." and took off towards the nearest weapons shop.

Minato turned back towards Kakashi." This team is so..."

" Ah, like ours."

" Except, things won't end up the same, Kakashi." Minato spoke seriously.

" I can only hope, sensei." he had a sad gleam in his eye.

Minato quickly thought of something to distract him with. " Hey by the way," he began, getting Kakashi's attention." You never did tell me what I need to work on, _sensei._" he joked.

Kakashi smiled a little under his mask." Well you have a lot of areas that need training _Minato_, but were gonna start with a spar. You against me and we will work our way from there."

Minato got in ready position." Sounds good to me."

_ Obito, Rin, I will protect Kakashi and the newly formed team seven for not just myself, but for you both as well. Please watch out for us all._

* * *

**Done! Sorry for the wait!**

**Now I know many things in this chapter never happened, however I wanted Minato to confront Sasuke before the waves mission. Also, team seven were never shown training together besides the tree walking exercise and in opening/ending songs, so I wanted them to ACTUALLY train together like a real team. Cause really, Kakashi giving them d-ranks, then a c-rank mission, when he barely(if at all) trained them was stupid.( I'm not even going to get into the chuunin exams.)**

**And about Kakashi not liking Naruto at first, that's because it made little to no sense that, Kakashi always liked Naruto after he was the cause of his last remaining team members death, whether or not he is the last member's son.(people have hated children, who's mothers have died giving birth.)**

**Sorry for the long AN, but I just wanted to address some questions you all might have.**

**Thanks for reading and plz review!**

**Cha!**


	5. Chapter 5

A New Hope

**Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto, so don't judge me.**

It has been three weeks, since Team Seven started doing some real training and their improvement is already starting to show. Sasuke, though nowhere near beating Kakashi, has been able to hold his own longer and come out of a spar, with less injuries than before. Naruto's stealth, though still low, has gotten better and he has been improving in his taijutsu and reflexes. Sakura is not able to use wires adequately in battle, though she still needs practice, and she has been working on her endurance. Minato has, slowly, but surely, been getting faster at using his thunder god technique and has been practicing some of his old jutsus, when training by himself or with only Kakashi.

Right now, Team Seven were asking for a new mission, from the Sandaime.

" Well, I haven't seen you guys in a while." spoke the Hokage.

" We've been training hard, old man." said Minato with a grin.

" Yeah old man, so hows about a mission?" asked Naruto, with a similar grin to Minato's.

" Boys, you can't call the Hokage "old man", it's disrespectful." scolded Iruka.

Minato and Naruto looked at him, then each other, then back at Iruka and said at the same time." But, he's old."

Said man twitched, Sakura giggled, Sasuke smirked, and Kakashi just sighed, hoping he would not have to talk with the Hokage about this later.

The Sandaime coughed to get everyone's attention." Alright Team Seven, let's see what missions are available. There's a missing cat, some of our elderly need help grocery shopping, you could -"

" No! No! No! We deserve better missions than those lame ones."

" Naruto, how can you say that, when you are just a freshly graduated genin?! There is a system to how things work, genin get D-rank mission, being the most inexperienced, chuunin get C-rank or B-rank missions, when given special permission, jounin get B-rank to A-rank missions, and ANBU get mainly S-rank, but sometimes A-rank missions. " explained Iruka.

" Oh come on. Were ready for a C-rank, plus we have five people instead of four, so our chances of succeeding are greater." argued Naruto.

Sarutobi and Iruka were a bit shocked that Naruto was able to use a valid argument. It just proves to them even more, that the team might be ready for a higher ranked mission.

Sakura decided to speak up at that moment." If I may Hokage-sama, Naruto has a point and we have all been training hard, a higher ranked mission could be what we need to test our skills and see what we need to improve on."

" Just give us the mission, Hokage-sama, we can handle it." stated Sasuke in a slightly polite way.

The Hokage looked at them all, until his eyes locked with Minato's and a silent conversation was made.

_' Give us the mission, old man, I will watch out for them.'_

_' If you say so, then I trust you.'_

" Alright, if you all believe you can handle it, then I will allow you to take this C-rank mission. It should not be too much trouble, however as ninja you should always remain on your guard and be alert." spoke the Hokage.

Team Seven beamed." Hai, Hokage-sama!" they chorused.

" Your mission is to escort someone back to the land of waves."

" Is the person a monk? Feudal lord? Princess?"

*Knock**Knock*

" Enter."

A man entered the room, he had gray hair, wore glasses, and was carrying a sake bottle." These brats are my escorts? They look like they couldn't hurt a fly, especially the short one."

" Haha, who's the short one?" laughed Naruto, but when everyone stood in a line, Minato and Sasuke were the same high, with Sakura being a few centimeters shorter, and finally Naruto being the shortest." Hey!" he shouted.

" My name is Tazuna, I am the bridge builder you will be escorting and you better be worth the money!" he announced.

" Be ready to leave in an hour. Dismissed." commanded the Hokage.

Everyone bowed and left.

An hour later found the boys Team Seven at the main gate, waiting for their female teammate, sensei, and charge. Oddly enough, Naruto was quiet and standing still, instead of the usual pacing and complaining.

" Is something the matter Naruto?" questioned Minato as he put a hand on his 'little brother's' shoulder.

" Eh? No, why would you think that, Nii-san?"

" Because your too quiet, are you sure nothing is bothering you?"

" Well...this is the first time I have ever left the village and of course I'm excited, but..."

" But?"

" But, what if the people in other villages hate me too?" he asked softly. This is one of the rare times Naruto let's his insecurities show and it made Minato both sad and upset that his son even has to think like this.

" Naruto, the only people who will hate you, will be enemy ninja, because you defeat them in battle."

" Really?"

" Ah, and someday this village will realized that they hate you for all the wrong reasons and once they do, everyone will care and respect you for who you are."

" How can you be so sure? For all we know they can hate me until the day I die." spoke Naruto disheartened.

" Because, I know the real you Naruto and the real you can't help but make people like you. You have something special that will make everyone acknowledge you, as long as you keep working for it." Naruto smiled at Minato, who ruffled his hair in return.

" Sorry I'm late guys!" called out Sakura as she approached them.

" What took you so long, Sakura-chan?" questioned Naruto, back to his cheerful self.

" I was packing some medical supply and extra food. Mom said to always be prepared, no matter how short the journey, cause anything can happen. So, she got me this medical pouch yesterday, for all my bandages, disinfectant spray, ect." she explained pointing to the white pouch at the center of her hips, while her weapons pouch was off to the right side.

" That was both smart and nice of her." commented Minato.

" Un!" replied Sakura.

The genin glanced over to the sound of approaching foot steps and saw both their sensei and charge heading towards them.

" Alright kids, let's move out, we should be able to make it to the land of waves by evening." announced Kakashi, to which the kids nodded at.

* * *

They had been walking for at least two hours, when they came across a puddle. Minato and Kakashi locked eyes quickly, while the boys and charge completely ignored it. Sakura looked confused and walked over to Kakashi, who was next to Minato.

" Kakashi-sensei, it hasn't rained here in weeks right?" she asked lowly. Kakashi nodded, glad that at least one of his students, Minato does not count, is observant. Sakura began sending wary looks towards the puddle and got closer to the boys in case an attack happened.

After the group walked a few more feet, two people sprang up from the puddle and sent chains with spikes at the end towards Kakashi, they wrapped around him and turned him tore him to shreds. His team, minus Minato, looked on in horror. Minato was the first to react and pulled out a kunai, while charging one of the two men heading for Tazuna. Sakura pulled out several kunai and launched them at the second and she moved to guard Tazuna.

Minato had jumped away from his taijutsu match with one of the men, as the guy sent his chain towards him. Sasuke finally snapped out of it, after he heard Sakura yell Naruto's name as the other chunin was heading straight towards him. He took action and sped towards the nin, appearing above the guy's head and slammed his foot down on him. The guy that Minato had been fighting rushed towards Tazuna preparing to strike. Sakura got in front of him with a kunai, however Sasuke appeared before her ready to take the attack. But before the attack could be made, Kakashi appeared and took out both chunin, then proceeded to tie them to a tree.

Naruto finally came out of his frozen state and stared at Kakashi in disbelief." Y-you were dead!" he shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at the man.

Kakashi chuckled nervously and looked over towards the spot where he 'died'. In Kakashi's place was a broken up log.

" Substitution jutsu." mutter Sasuke.

While Sakura asked if Tazuna was okay and Kakashi and Sasuke made their way towards them, Minato grabbed Naruto's wrist and held it up, so that the boy could see his bloody hand.

" Are you alight, Naruto?" Minato questioned. Naruto started freaking out, catching everyone's attention.

" You might want to check out that wound Naruto. The demon brothers are known for putting poison on their weapons." commented Kakashi, which only caused Naruto to freak out even more.

" Naruto if you remove the infected blood, before it spreads, then you will be able to get rid of the poison." stated Sakura, calming Naruto down. He nodded and took out a kunai and stabbed the cut, which caused more blood and some purple liquid to ooze out." Here, let me clean your wound." she said as she brought out some tissues and disinfectant spray. Naruto complied, wincing a bit when the spray met his opened wound, however before Sakura could pull out bandages the wound closed up on it's own.

Sakura and Naruto looked on confused, while Kakashi and Minato knew that it was part of the power of the kyuubi. Kakashi decided to distract his team by speaking up.

" These were chunin level rogue ninja we just face, however we should not have needed to deal we them if this were and ordinary C-rank mission." he looked up at a nervous and sweating Tazuna." Tazuna-san, is there something you weren't telling us?" Tazuna fumbled for his word for a minute, until finally sighing and giving in.

" The truth is this mission might be somewhere between a B and A-rank mission, depending on whose after me."

" Why is that?" questioned Minato.

" The truth is my home is being run by a man named Gato. He is running our town poor and is trying to stop me and a few others from building the bridge to the main land, for he will lose his power over us. I'm sorry I lied, but our people did not have enough money to pay for a higher mission rank." said Tazuna guiltily.

" What are we gonna do now, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.

" Were gonna go back to the leaf -"

" What?!" yelled Naruto." Come on Kakashi-sensei, we've already come this far, plus were able to handle ourselves!"

" You froze up, Dobe."

" Shut up Teme! I was just shocked, but I won't be anymore, now that I know what I am dealing with, so let's continue with the mission!"

" I agree with the Dobe."

" I'm with the boys on this one. After all we can't just leave Tazuna-san." agreed Sakura.

Kakashi looked to Minato to hear his thoughts. Said boy smiled and gave a firm nod.

" We got this, Kakashi."

Kakashi sighed and looked ahead of their trail. They were already near the river they would need to cross, so might as well continue." Alright, let's go." Naruto and Sakura cheered, while Sasuke smirked and Minato smiled.

* * *

They had arrived at the land of waves and hour ago and were not too far from the town. During the boat ride, Tazuna filled them in on everything Gato has done and how the people are scared to even work on the bridge, because his men have been getting violent with the workers. However before they could take another step, Kakashi yelled.

" Get down!" everyone dropped down and Sakura made it a point to drag Tazuna as well. A huge sword came flying above their heads and implanted itself in a tree, a man appeared on top of it.

" Well well well,if it isn't the copy-cat ninja, Hatake Kakashi." came a low, rough voice.

" Momochi Zabuza, one of the legendary seven swordsman of the Mist." announced Kakashi in the same tone. He moved in front of the group." Everyone stay back, this guy is too powerful for you to take on." he said as he pulled up his hitaite and revealed his sharingan, much to the shock of his students.**( so there is no confusion, when I say 'students' Minato is not one of them for obvious reasons.)**

" So, that is the famous sharingan, I've heard so much about. I look forward to cutting you to pieces with my sword, then I will take out the bridge builder." Zabuza said as he grabbed his sword and jumped. He did a few hand seals and a thick fog began to form around them.

" Guys, protect Tazuna, while I deal with Zabuza!" Kakashi shouted as he pulled out a kunai.

Naruto and Sasuke began to protest, while Sakura got in front of Tazuna. Minato was observing his surroundings, he sensed another presence up in the trees, however he would not act, until that person did. Plus he wanted to see his former student in a real fight, after so many years. Mist was known for their skilled swordsman and violent killings, so he would watch over the students as Kakashi battled.

Zabuza created a water clone to attack the kids, while he charged Kakashi. Sasuke and Naruto ran towards the clone, but jumped out-of-the-way when it swung its large sword. Sasuke summoned a giant shuriken, flipped in the air, and launched it at the clone, who dodged. The fog made it so that it was hard for Team Seven to see their sensei and each other, if they weren't close, so Minato did a few hand seals and preformed a low-level version of _Wind Release: Vacuum Wave,_ so that it only got rid of the mist, instead of lashing out at everyone in the mist cleared, Team Seven saw that Zabuza had Kakashi trapped in a water sphere.

" Kids, take Tazuna and run!" shouted Kakashi, worried for his students safety.

" But what about you, Kakashi-sensei?!"questioned Naruto.

" Leave me and get to town, where you will be safe for a while."

" Were not leaving you, sensei." stated Sasuke.

" You have to, he's to strong!"

" No, Kakashi-sensei! You taught us teamwork and told us to never leave a team member behind, so there is no way were gonna run!" argued Sakura as she took out some kunai with wires, preparing to attack.

" She's right, Kakashi. No one is getting left behind." announced Minato in a tone that marked the end of the discussion.

" Your all a bunch of fools!" hissed Zabuza as he sent his clone towards them again.

" You guys, I'm going to separate Zabuza's hand from the sphere, so that Kakashi can be released. You all need to deal with the clone." explained Minato, to which everyone nodded. Minato quickly flash-stepped passed the clone and landed in front of Zabuza." _Wind style; Blade of Wind!"_ whispered Minato as chakra emitted from his fingertips and materializes it into a near invisible weapon that assaulted Zabuza in a gust of wind, similar to a long sword. Zabuza blocked most of it, with his sword, however his arm in the sphere was cut a few times and resulted in him removing it, causing Kakashi to be freed. Out of the corner of Minato's eye, he registered the rest of team seven taking out the clone. Minato rushed to Kakashi's side and stood next to him, with a kunai in hand. " You okay, Kakashi?"

*cough* " I'm fine." *cough* he chocked out.

" You little brats are better than I expected, however the games end here!" he began running at Minato and Kakashi, but stopped mid-step, because two senbon needles implanted themselves in his neck, causing him to collapse.

" What happened?" asked Naruto as he and the others rushed over to their sensei and teammate. Kakashi stood up and walked over to Zabuza's body checking for a pulse.

" He's dead." answered Kakashi.

" Indeed." came a new voice from behind Kakashi. Everyone tensed and Minato narrowed his eyes recognizing the chakra of the person, who was hiding earlier.

" Who are you?" demanded Sasuke as he looked at the mask wearing nin, that could not be that much other than them.

" I am a hunter nin from Mist and have tracked down Zabuza for a long time. I appreciate your assistance in his defeat." explained the nin as he picked up Zabuza's body.

" No problem, we are just glad the fight is over." Kakashi said as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

" Now I must deal with the body, thanks again." the nin said and disappeared right after.

" That's not fair! We didn't even get to battle the guy, yet some kid is able to take him out in one strike!" complained Naruto. Sasuke grunted in agreement, Sakura sighed, and Minato stared at the spot the nin disappeared from.

" It can't be helped Naruto, there are going to be people out there younger than you, but stronger than me. Not everyone progresses at the same rate." spoke Kakashi. Naruto started grumbling, while Sasuke's face darkened in thought." Now let's -" however before he could take on more step, Kakashi passed out. Minato quickly caught him, while the others cried ' Kakashi-sensei.'

" It's alright guys, he's just unconscious. We need to get to town, so he can rest properly." soothed Minato.

" Everyone follow me, my house is not too far from here." announced Tazuna.

* * *

" Hmm~" groaned Kakashi as he opened his eyes.

" Kakashi-sensei!" came a surprised female voice.

" Where am I?" he questioned as he saw his team sitting next to him.

" Where at Tazuna's house, you've been out for two days." answered Sasuke.

" I see, the sharingan really took a lot out of me, but it could have been worse."

" Kakashi, that hunter nin." stated Minato, knowing his student would catch on.

" Ah, I want to ask you guys something, think back to our fight with Zabuza and then the hunter nin's appearance at the end, was there anything you found strange?" he addressed his student to see if they were as observant to there surrounding and as knowledgeable as they should be.

Sasuke and Naruto were thinking, however Sakura spoke up." Well, something has bothered me, actually. The place where the nin attacked Zabuza and his weapon of choice."

" Care to elaborate?" asked Kakashi.

" Well in a book I read on the human anatomy, though there are many pressure points in the neck, getting hit there with senbon should not be enough to kill a person. Even the amount of blood they would produce after puncturing the skin would not be enough to kill someone."

" Minato nodded and Kakashi spoke." Good. Do you boys know what this means?"

" Hn. It means that hunter nin is working with Zabuza."

" And that we get another chance to fight him!"

_' They' re actually excited to know that he's not dead.'_ thought an amused Kakashi." Exactly, meaning I need to have you guys do some more training, so that you can be ready to face both of them."

" But, Kakashi-sensei, your still suffering from the after effects of the sharingan." said a worried Sakura.

" It's alright, I can still teach you, plus Minato can help out as well. He's done a lot of extra training and can help you out if need be." Sakura reluctantly nodded, Naruto cheered, Sasuke looked slightly upset about hearing that Minato got more training, but was able to get over it knowing that he was about to train some more, and Minato smiled.

* * *

" So , I am going to be teaching you all how to climb a tree." he said after they all were outside and in the woods.

" But we already know how to climb a tree." complained Naruto.

" Ah, but with this, you won't be using your hands." at the students confused looks,he decided to demonstrate, by pulling chakra into his feet and placing them on the tree, calmly walking up it as if it were an everyday thing. He looked down to see his students awed faces and Minato's amusement at them. He tossed down three kunai." I want you to get a running start and do what I just did. Mark the spot you stop at if you begin to lose your footing and try to climb higher each time." he directed.

The three nodded and pushed chakra into their feet, they all ran at their tree. Naruto only made it five steps, then his chakra flow stopped and he fell on his head, Sasuke made it a fourth of the way up, but was repelled when he pushed too much chakra into his feet, and Sakura was able to make it all the way to the top. Much to the shock of Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi.

" Well, looks like the girl has the best chakra control of the group. She seems more capable than the last Uchiha and seems closer to becoming Hokage than anyone else." goaded kakashi as he watched the boys upset, then determined expression cross their faces. They quickly went back to practicing.

Minato looked up at Sakura with a small smile. He knew the girl's chakra control was really good, but was still impressed that she got the exercise down on her first try." Kakashi, I'm gonna take Sakura and teach her how to walk on water, since she completed the exercise." he knew Kakashi wanted to watch the boys, but did not want to just abandon Sakura, so Minato decided to take it upon himself to teach her.

" Thanks." replied Kakashi as he went back to instructing the boys.

Soon Sakura came and stood next to him." I'm gonna be teaching you how to walk on water, since you were able to climb up the tree." Sakura looked excited and nodded, following him to the nearby river.

Once they got there, Minato began speaking." Okay this is similar to the tree walking exercise, however it is a bit more challenging, because water does not have a definite shape and ripples occur with the slightest disturbance, meaning it could affect your chakra balance between your feet and the water." he said as he walked on the water effortlessly. his amusement came back at seeing her amazed face, this reminded him of teaching his team back at the beginning, when they hung onto his every word.

Sakura carefully molded chakra into her feet and stepped on the surface slowly. She was still stand, so she took a step, however the ripples cause her chakra balance to become unstable and she fell in. She quickly swam to the surface, only to see Minato with a cheeky grin on his face." Not so easy, is it?"

Sakura glared." Shut up! I'll learn to walk on water, if nothing else than to get to you and bop you upside the head!" she declared.

" Well, considering the fact you can't take a step, I'm gonna be good for a while."

Sakura glowered as she got out of the water and prepared to do it again.

* * *

All three genin have been training all day. Naruto and Sasuke are still trying to walk up a tree the former mentioned closer than the other. While Sakura is still trying to master water walking, she is able to take a few steps however her chakra always gives out causing her to fall into the water, much to her charring and Minato's delight. They were all seated at the table eating, with Inari, Tsunami, and Tazuna. Inari just screamed at Naruto, how heroes don't exist and that he should give up his dream, while Kakashi went to talk to him.

" I'm sorry about, Inari. Ever since his father passed away, he has been really withdrawn." apologized Tsunami.

" It's alright. He is still young, but had to suffer a great loss and it still is effecting him." reassure Minato.

" Yeah, I'm not gonna give up on my dream no matter what! And because of what he said, I'm ready to get back out there and do some more training, are you with me Sasuke?" questioned Naruto, to which Sasuke nodded and the two left.

" I'm done as well, but if you would like for me to help you with the dishes before I go Tsunami-san, I would not mind." offered Sakura.

" Oh no deary, I'm sure you have important training to do, plus your already protecting my father, so it's no trouble." waved off Tsunami.

" Okay, thank you for the meal, it was delicious." thanked both Minato and Sakura as they headed out to the river.

Once there they picked where they left off, Sakura falling in the water, while Minato teased her.

" Sakura, you really suck at this." stated Minato as he was sitting cross-legged on the river, with ease, which only severed to piss Sakura off even more.

" It's not my fault, I add and maintain a constant amount of chakra in my feet, but after a few steps, I end up underwater." complained Sakura.

" Think of it like this, Sakura. Water is constantly flowing and has no real form, so if you don't constantly change the amount of chakra, so that you balance, then you are going to fall in."

" Constantly changing the flow of chakra is impossible, while trying to fight a battle."

" It does seem that way, but if you have your chakra glide with the water, instead of having it repel to keep you afloat, then maybe you will be able to walk on it."

Sakura looked hesitant, but stepped onto the water and concentrated on having her chakra flow and mix with the water instead of keeping it bunched together at her feet. She closed her eyes, in case she fell into the water and took step after step, until she collided with something and felt hands balance her, by her shoulders. She opened her eyes only to be met with sapphire sparkling blue eyes.

Minato smiled." About time you got here."

Sakura smiled back and stuck her tongue out." Shut up, I made it didn't I?"

" Yes you did. But with my guidance, it was obvious you would."

" Speaking of guidance, why the heck didn't you tell me that before!" she whined, while smacking his arm.

" Well, I knew once I told you, you'd get the hang of it and I wouldn't get to see you fall in the water anymore." teased Minato.

Sakura glared, then a look of surprised crossed her face." Hey Naruto!" she called out. Minato turned around to see his 'brother', but the moment he did, Sakura pushed him into the water. He swam to the surface and glared at her laughing form.

" You tricked me!" he accused.

" Payback." she stated grinning at him.

He smirked." Of course you realize, I have to get even now." he said as he climbed on top of the water. Sakura stopped grinning and quickly ran back to shore and tried to get as far away from Minato as she could, however Minato was having none of that. He quickly caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, spinning her around, causing them both to laugh. They were not too far from the house in a small clearing, so the moonlight was shining into the area.

" Minato, your making me dizzy." said Sakura between fits of laughter.

" Too bad." was Minato's reply. After a minute he stopped and their laughter slowly subsided. Minato did not let her go.

Sakura looked up and pecked him on the cheek." Thank you, Minato." she smiled softly at him, just like the first time he had helped her.

Minato had a small blush on his cheeks." For what? You definitely would have gotten water walking down on your own, if Kakashi told you what I did."

" Yes, but you stayed with me through the whole thing and motivated me to master water walking, if only to deck you for teasing me." she giggled softly.

Minato grinned." It's what I'm here for."

" Ahem..." a throat cleared behind them. They turned and saw Kakashi leaning against a tree lazily." I heard laughter and wanted to warn you guys to come inside soon before you catch a cold, playing in the water and all."

Sakura huffed." We were not playing in the water. I just learned how to walk on it and was getting even, with Minato." she broke out of Minato's hold and made her way towards the house." See you guys later and goodnight." sh called over her shoulder.

" 'Night." they chorused together.

" Where are Naruto and Sasuke?" asked Minato after Sakura's form disappeared.

" Sasuke will be back in a few hours and Naruto's gone AWOL for the night."

" Do you think it's safe to let him do that?" questioned Minato, with a hint of worry in his voice.

" Ever the doting brother, I see. Don't worry, Naruto will be fine. Zabuza is not meant to recover until late tomorrow, so the fight won't happen until the day after. Besides, you seemed busy earlier." Kakashi spoke, giving him a pointed look at the end.

Minato returned the look with confusion. " Well, yeah. Sakura needed to learn water walking at some point, might as well teach her when we have time, plus with our opponent being a water user, the skill could come in handy." answered Minato as he began walking towards the house, with Kakashi not far behind.

_' Sensei, you don't even realize that you...' _trailed off Kakashi as he looked at the back of his shrunken teacher.

* * *

The last training day was when the boys finally mastered the tree walking exercise and Sakura practiced water walking more, even sparing, with Minato to test her concentration. Needless to say everyone was feeling pumped and ready to take on Zabuza and his mysterious hunter nin. The day of the battle found all of team seven, minus Naruto, was making their way to the bridge with Tazuna. Once they got there, they saw all the workers knocked out and Zabuza and Haku standing in the middle of the area.

" It's time for the final showdown, Kakashi of the sharingan and I guarantee, I will be the one to walk away." declared Zabuza." Haku take care of the brats."

" Kakashi, I'm fighting with you, while Sakura and Sasuke will take on Haku." announced Minato, to which Kakashi nodded. They both charged at Zabuza.

" Sakura stay back, I will deal with this 'Haku'." stated Sasuke as he rushed forward before sakura could say anything. The two engaged in a taijutsu match for a while, until Haku through senbon, cutting up Sasuke and forcing him back. Sakura was about to intervene, however Naruto showed up and quickly jumped into the fight, surprising Haku.

" Thanks so much for waiting for me guys!" shouted Naruto, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

" Hn. About time you showed up, Dobe."

" Shut up, Teme!"

" Enough talk." commanded Haku after regaining his composure and performing a few hand signs, making ice mirrors appear. He quickly stepped into one." Now, you will not stand a chance." he said while multiple images of himself appeared all holding senbon.

Back with Minato, Kakashi, and Zabuza'z fight, they weren't fairing much better, because Zabuza created a heavier mist than last time and is aware of how the sharingan works, thanks to Haku, so he is keeping his eyes closed, while attacking.

" I can't see a thing in this mist and every time I go to perform a wind jutsu a water clone appears." spoke Minato. He had been able to disable Zabuza's left arm, but once the mist was created, he could not do much.

" Don't worry, I have a plan." stated kakashi. He did a few hand seal and predictably Zabuza came and attacked him, however instead of stopping, Kakashi completed the seal after taking the attack. Zabuza retreated and Kakashi's nin dogs appeared." Guys, I need you to sniff out Zabuza in this mist, sniff for my blood, his sword is covered with it." commanded Kakashi, causing the dogs to run off.

Back to the genin of team seven, Naruto and Sasuke had been getting punctured and repealed repeatedly by needles and haku himself,taking out Sasuke and preventing their could not escape. But Sakura saw this and began shattering the mirrors, with chakra laced kunai, breaking several in the process. Haku however, did not let this continue and quickly attacked and captured Sakura as well.

" Dammit! What are why gonna do now?!" questioned Naruto.

" I've got a plan." said Sakura after a minute." Naruto you try running towards the exit, with you clones again, while I will try to capture Haku in my wires, and we break the rest of the mirrors, once he is taken out. Naruto nodded, he was pissed that Sasuke was knocked unconscious and was ready to beat that mask wearing bastards ass!

" _Shadow clone jutsu!_" yelled Naruto as 20 clones appeared and they all rushed towards the open spots in the mirror prison. Haku rushed out to destroy the clones, with his ice senbon, however before he could reach Naruto and the last two, Sakura caught him with her wires and she pulled him, forcing his body to her, where she punched Haku's face. Effectively knocking off the mask. Naruto and his clones took out the rest of the ice prison before facing Sakura and their opponent, but once he did he was shocked to see that it was the same boy from yesterday morning.

" I-it's you!" he said, pointing at Haku in surprise.

" You know him Naruto?"

With Minato, he had taken out the two water clones that had been attacking him and looked over towards Kakashi to see that he was preparing his _' Lightning Cutter'_ to finish Zabuza off. He looked over towards the rest of team seven, to find Sakura and Naruto listening to Haku talk, while Sasuke was unconscious, with a bunch of needles in his body.

He looked back to see Kakashi charging at Zabuza aiming to kill, but Haku appeared before him and prepared to take the hit. Kakashi was not able to stop his attack, however Sakura through a shuriken,with a wire attached that wrapped around Kakashi's arm and pulled it down so that it created a small crater in the ground.

" S-Sakura, why?" stuttered a confused Kakashi. Haku and Zabuza were just as shocked.

" He doesn't deserve to die Kakashi-sensei." she simply stated.

" Who are you to decide whether or not my tool dies." sneered Zabuza, however that ticked Naruto off greatly.

" WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO CALL HIM YOUR TOOL?! Haku was about to risk his life for you! His life! Meaning that he would have been dead and there's no coming back from that, but you don't even care?! Your upset about Sakura-chan seeing the value in his life unlike you, you bastard!?" yelled an outraged Naruto.

" It's alright Naruto-kun, I live to serve Master Zabuza, until my very last breath." he looked back towards a slightly in shock Zabuza." What ever your orders are, I'll do them."

However before Zabuza could say anything Gato and 30 of his bodyguards showed up.

" Look at you Zabuza, can't even finish off a bunch of snot nosed kids and a bridge builder. I am tired of you disappointing me and here by fire you! Boys get ready to take out that man over there." snapped Gato, pointing to Tazuna.

" Oh, I'm fired am I?" came Zabuza's rough voice." Well in that case, I don't have to put off killing you any longer." he said as he grabbed his sword in his good hand.

" Allow me to help. After all, I was the one who disabled you." smirked Minato,to which Zabuza returned.

" Don't blame me, if you get killed for getting in my way." replied Zabuza as he charged, with his sword in hand and a kunai in his mouth.

" Wouldn't dream of it." spoke Minato as he too charged, with two kunai.

Minato took out most of the men, while Zabuza took out the ones protecting Gato. Once they were out-of-the-way he took the kunai in his mouth and pieced Gato's heart.

" Nobody, double-crosses me." Zabuza stated as Gato fell. Zabuza collapsed on the ground as well, from the exertion.

" Master Zabuza!" called out Haku as he rushed to his side.

" I'm alright, Haku, just tired. Heh, you really are a good tool."

" What are we going to do now?"

"Were gonna have to find some other way to gain funds to take out the Mizukage."

" If you're talking about the Yondaime Mizukage, he is already dead." came Minato's mater-of-fact voice.

" What?!" screamed Zabuza.

" He was killed in secret, nearly six month ago, so it was not likely you would here of it for some time."

" Che, some lucky bastard got the honor of taking out the guy before me." grumbled Zabuza.

" I guess we no longer need funds in order to plan a coup?" questioned Haku.

*sigh* " No we don't." answered Zabuza.

Sakura was helping Sasuke, who came to a little bit ago, sit up.

" Cool! This means you guys can come back to Konoha with us!" announced Naruto happily.

" Naruto..." called Kakashi, but Zabuza beat him to it.

" It's not that simple kid. I'm still a wanted rouge ninja and would be capture on sight, if I went to any of the hidden villages."

" Then why don't you stay here for a while?" asked Tazuna.

" What?" came both Zabuza's and Haku's surprised voices.

" We don't have ninja here , so provided you help around town and don't cause destruction your welcomed here anytime."

Zabuza gave a deep horsed chuckle." You really want the 'Demon of the Mist' staying in your town?"

" Your not as bad a fella as the rumors make you out to be, besides this town needs some protection and who better than you?" answered Tazuna.

" What do you say, Haku?"

Haku looked surprised, but answered none the less." Are we still gonna be criminals?"

" Well, with the old Mizukage out-of-the-way, there is no real need to be. However until we go back to mist and meet with the new Mizukage, we will be considered rouge ninja."

" Why don't you guys stay here and slowly work your way out of the criminal records, before returning home?" offered Kakashi.

" Yeah! And once your home and get permission from your kage,you can come visit us!" spoke up Naruto.

" Humph. What if I don't like the new kage and want to kill him as well?" questioned Zabuza.

" Then we will just see you again in a few years and go from there. Unless of course you get killed off by some other ninjas." taunted Minato.

" Kid you don't know who your messing with." grunted Zabuza.

" Neither do you." mumbled Kakashi thinking no one had heard him, but Sakura had and secretly gave both him and Minato confused looks.

* * *

The following few days, in which team seven stayed to recover, the bridge was finally completed and the towns people were more lively than ever. All of them, including Zabuza, Haku, and the demon brothers, were there to see team seven off.

" Bye Everyone!" shouted Naruto as he waved like a maniac.

" Bye Naruto-nii! Thanks for everything and don't cry!" called out Inari as he waved, though he was crying himself.

" Your the one that's crying!" however tears began to run down Naruto's face as well.

" Goodbye Naruto and I hope to see you and your team soon." came Haku's gentle voice, but they heard it. Zabuza just scoffed and looked away. Haku smiled." That means he'll miss you too!"

Zabuza scowled, Sasuke and Kakashi smirked, Sakura giggled, Minato grinned, and Naruto laughed.

" If you have any trouble, contact Konoha again." announced Kakashi as he pulled out his favorite reading material.

" Will do! responded Tazuna.

" Take care." said Tsunami.

" Bye guys, come back anytime." came Inari's final goodbye." Say grandpa, what are we going to name the bridge?"

" Hmm~. How about 'The Great Team Seven Bridge' in honor of our young heroes?"

" Yeah, that sounds great." Inari spoke softly.

* * *

" Well guys, our first C-rank turns A-rank and we not only complete it, but we turn a criminal from his bad ways. I feel accomplished for the week." spoke Sakura.

Minato nodded." Definitely."

" Hn."

*Turns page*

" I want ramen."

Everyone turned and stared at Naruto.

" What after training, two battles, and all that yelling a nice hot bowl of ramen is just what the doctor ordered, right Sakura-chan?"

" Knowing you Naruto, one bowl really means five." said girl replied.

" Then what are we waiting for? The best ramen in the world can only be found in Konoha at Ichiraku!" exclaimed Naruto as he ran ahead of the group, only to trip over his own two feet. Minato and Sakura burst out laughing, Kakashi giggled due to his book, and Sasuke shook his head, while smirking.

" Dobe."

" Definitely." confirmed both Minato and Sakura, laughing again.

* * *

**Done! Sorry for the wait, but as you can see this chapter was pretty long.( over 7,000 words) IT TOOK FOREVER! *Ahem* But I hope you enjoyed it and didn't mind the alternate ending, I felt sad when Haku and Zabuza died, when they weren't bad people, just dealt bad hands, so I decided to let them live.**

**The next chappy should be chunin exams! That was my fave arc in part one, cause it shows a lot of Sakura's growth, with her encouraging Naruto's dream, protecting her teammates even though she knew she had no chance, and not giving up during her fight with Ino. So be looking out for it, though I might break it up into two chapters if it gets too long or I find a good place to stop. Cause I just type whatever pops into my head and go from there.**

**Sorry again for the long AN and thanks for reading! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

A New Hope

**Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto.**

Today was the day of the beginning of the chunin exams. Minato had a bad feeling about this. The sandaime had filled him in on the recently created sound village and this year they would finally be participating in the exams. Not only that, but he has mentioned the rising of a criminal organization. They have kept a low profile, for now, but what concerns him is what their after. Jinchuurikis, meaning Naruto and he would be damned before he ever let them touch him. But they are not the main focus now.

Minato looked at Naruto, who was walking on his left and full of excitement, then he looked towards Sakura, who was at his right, with an unreadable expression. They would be meeting Sasuke at the academy for the exams and Minato was not happy. It had nothing to do with Sasuke's attitude, which has improved for the past few months, it has nothing to do with Naruto, who seems to always be full of energy and excitement, no, it has to do with Sakura. Or more specifically, Sakura's actions towards yesterday's second meeting.

She had changed her outfit a bit too. Her long-sleeve red shirt was now cut off at the end of her ribs and had not only her white clan symbol on the back, but the Konoha symbol on the front of her chest and her stomach was covered in black fish netting. She also changed her form-fitting shorts to black spandex with a white skirt, with slits on the side, over it. Finally she had gray knee-high boots, that matched her two pouches and kunai holster.

Yesterday, however is when they had just finished dropping off their enrollment forms for the chunin exams, Sasuke had decided to leave, while they were all heading towards Ichiraku. along the way there, they had run into Konohamaru and his friends, who was under Naruto's guidance. Minato resisted the urge to shudder at the thought. The kids had wanted to play 'ninja' and eventually Naruto agreed, dragging Sakura and himself into the game. It was fun, until Konohamaru literally ran into a sand shinobi, named Kankuro. Said boy did not take to kindly to it, but Sasuke appeared in a tree and stopped him from hurting Konohamaru. Minato however, felt one of the most blood thirstiest aura ever, coming form the boy on the other side of the same tree Sasuke was on, causing his eyes to immediately, which seemed to surprise him. They exchanged names and he got Sasuke's as well, after he apologized for his sibling's behavior. Sabaku no Gaara and his siblings Temari and Kankuro. He would need to keep an eye on them.

But that encounter did not bother him as much as the _second_ one did.

Oo~Flashback~oO

_After the sand siblings left, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon had to get back to the academy for afternoon classes. So team seven made their way to Ichirakus' without anymore disruptions and with Sasuke this time. They were all seated in the following Sasuke, Naruto, Minato, and finally Sakura and were all eating and chatting happily about the exams tomorrow, when a voice spoke up._

_" Whoa, **pink** hair. That's not something you see everyday." stated an interested voice. Team seven turned to see a boy with short curly brown hair and olive green eyes. He was wearing a green t-shirt under his white jacket and had standard black shinobi pants and shoes, with a white belt to match his jacket, a girl with short dark purple hair, that spiked at the ends and bangs, with dark yellow eyes, she was wearing a purple tank-top, black mid-thigh skirt, and had matching purple leggings on, along with the standard sandals. A white hair boy, who had short hair pulled back into a pony tail and thick bangs, with light blue eyes.**(think of Suzuka, from Code Geass and Len from Vocaloids for the men****. Also Shiro is wearing Len's outfit except instead of yellow outlining, its blue and he has blue shinobi sandals. Sorry, but his outfit and hair was too hard to describe.)**_

_" Excuse me?" questioned Sakura, not sure if it was an insult or not._

_" Oh, sorry, i didn't mean it in a bad way." he quickly apologized._

_" No, I understand that it's unusual." she assured, which caused the boy to grin._

_" Nice to meet you, my name is Kazune, from the waterfall village and these are my teammates, Urahara Reika and Tatsuki Shiro. Were Team Nine." he gestured to the two behind him._

_" Nice to meet you as well, my name is Haruno Sakura and these are my teammates Uzumaki Minato and Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." Minato nodded, Naruto grinned and waved, then went back to eating, and Sasuke grunted._

_Kazune and his team took a seat next to Sakura." I know you've probably get this often, but is your hair natural?"_

_" Hai, it is. So are you guy here for the chunin exams or just to support comrades?"_

_" Were taking the exam. Our sensei didn't want us to enter until she thought we were ready, so this year were in." answered Rieka as she ordered for her team._

_" Ya know, I was a bit skeptical to come to the leaf, with all that's been going on here for the past few years, but I, must say this place is pretty nice. Especially if it's got you here." spoke Kazune adding a playful wink. Sasuke snorted silently and Naruto huffed as he began eating again.  
_

_Sakura smiled, even though the line was a little cheesy, Kazune's charm worked it like magic. Plus it was not everyday Sakura was hit on, so it help with the self-esteem._

_Minato on the other hand, did not like all the attention Kazune was giving Sakura. He was by no means jealous, he just didn't trust foreign ninja at the moment. Yeah, that's it. However his dislike for the guy only increased at Sakura's next few words._

_" Your pretty cute yourself, kazune."_

_Said boy grinned. " So what are you into?"_

_" Well, aside from training I like many kinds of art and music."_

_" Really, I'm into music. I play the guitar and violin, what are your favorite types of music?"_

_" I play a few instruments myself, though I'm still learning on most of them. As for my music preferences, I don't really have a type, just as long as I like the beat and flow I'll listen to the song."_

_" That sound just like Kazune." spoke up Shiro for the first time. His mood went from distant, to lightly relaxed, though Minato could tell he still did not trust them yet." One hour he's listening to pop, then the next he's blasting rock music, I think he has musical mood swings."_

_" Hey! I so do not."_

_Sakura and Reika giggled._

_" Is that even possible?" asked Naruto, working on his third bowl._

_" Just think of it like mood swings, but with music, dobe."_

_" Oi teme, I am not a dobe, dattebayo!"  
_

_" Dobe?" asked Shiro.  
_

_" Teme?" questioned Reika._

_" Dattebayo?" echoed Kazune._

_" Just ignore it, it's how they show they care for each other." explained Sakura, to which Minato nodded._

_" You leaf-nin are so weird." blinked Kazune as he and his team watched Sasuke and Naruto argue back and forth._

_" You don't know the half of it." muttered both Minato and Sakura. Seriously, with their tardy, perverted, and aloof sensei, ice-cube, stuck up teammate, idiotic blonde teammate, who inhales ramen like air, female teammate with split personalities and pink hair, and finally time-traveling grown man turned into a child, well that doesn't exactly spell normal. And their not even getting into the rest of their graduating class and superiors. Yeah, the leaf is weird, but it's a warm and welcoming place as well._

_" I can't wait for the exams, our team is going all the way!" announced Kazune._

_" Well, you're gonna have to get past us and there's no way that's gonna happen!" retorted Naruto._

_" We'll see." stated Shiro._

_" Hn." answered back Sasuke._

_" Good luck in the exam." wished Sakura._

_" You guys as well." replied Rieka. Team Nine stood up after paying for their meals.  
_

_" Hope to see you soon, cutie pie." called out Kazune before he left the stand._

_Sakura giggled and shook her head." Something tells me, I'm gonna like those guys."_

_Minato could not say he felt the same. And from the looks on Naruto's and Sasuke's faces they weren't far from agreeing with him. _

Oo~ End of Flashback~oO

Minato finally snapped out of his thoughts and realized that they had made it to the academy for the exams.

" I'm so psyched! I wonder what the first part will be like?" wondered Naruto.

" Well find out soon enough, dobe, now let's get moving." said Sasuke as he began to walk away.

" Oi, shut up, teme!"

" Boys we are not about to do this today, especially before the exam, so mouths shut and eyes forward." said Sakura sternly as she walked ahead of them, along with Minato.

He had to agree, that listening to the same fights over and over, get tiresome and a bit annoying. So before either of the boys could protest, he spoke up.

" She's right guys, in this exam we need to depend on each other. Everyone is an opponent and at some point we might be each others opponents, so don't cause a scene, stop arguing, and let's do this."

The boys, though still upset, kept their mouths closed and moved forward.

They walked up the stairs and were met with a large crowd of genin. Two males were blocking the door and had just punched a girl with twin buns onto the floor.

" Horrible!" called out someone from the genin group.

" You think this is bad? This is nothing compared to the real exams." spoke up the guy with a strip of bandage running across the bridge of his nose.

" Yeah, were just weeding out the weaklings, you'll thank us later." spoke the other guy with brown hair covering his right eye.

" That may be, but you will let us pass." stated Sasuke.

" Also release the genjutsu." ordered Minato.

" Yeah, were not gonna waste our time at the wrong room." put in Naruto.

" This is the second floor, but we need to get to the third." finished Sakura. Mutters broke out as people said that they were on the third floor, but when the disguised chunin chuckled and released the genjutsu, the crowd was shocked.

" Not bad, but all you did was see through it!" spoke the one with brown hair, Izumo, while the one with spiky hair, Kotetsu, smirked as Izumo aimed a kick at Sasuke, who sent one back.

However, before either could hit the other a boy, with a bowl hair cut, in a green spandex jumpsuit, caught both their attacks. Much to both Sasuke's and Izumo's shock.

" What are you doing, I thought you wanted to keep a low profile." hissed and upset boy. He was obviously a Hyuuga, with his white eyes and long dark hair.

" I know but..." the spandex boy trailed off as he looked at Sakura, who did not like where this was going.

" Here we go." muttered the bun-haired girl.

The boy released his hold on the other two males and walked up to Sakura." My name is Rock Lee, please be my girlfriend. I will protect you with my life." he finished with a nice guy pose.

Naruto's jaw dropped, Sasuke scoffed, and Minato slightly narrowed his eyes.

" My name is Sakura and sorry Lee-san, but I just met you and I didn't exactly come here looking for a boyfriend." Lee's face fell, so Sakura quickly added." But, I hope we can be friends." Lee brightened up instantly.

" Yosh! I will show you, that I am worthy to be your friend and lifetime partner! Just you wait Sakura-san!"

" You have no idea what you just did. I'm Tenten, by the way." she said holding out her hand.

" Sakura, nice to meet you." they shook hands. While this was happening Neji questioned Sasuke for his name to which he replied with a snarky comment, pissing off the Hyuuga. Naruto was making fun of Lee's outfit, to which Lee criticized Naruto's in return. Minato came over towards Sakura and grabbed her hand, gently tugging her.

" We need to get going, if we want to make it on time." he then turned to Tenten." Nice meeting you, I'm Minato." he looked over towards Naruto and Sasuke trying to get their attention, so he missed what Tenten whispered to Sakura.

" Is that your boyfriend and the reason you turned Lee down?"

Sakura blushed." No, he just a friend."

" Riiiiight. Well then, I'd get with him soon, you two suite each other." she winked, much to Sakura's embarrassment.

Minato turned back towards the girls." Okay, let's get - eh, Sakura are you alright? Your looking a little red there."

" I'm fine." she said quickly, then began pulling towards the stairs." Let's go, like you said we don't want to be late."

Minato said nothing about her weird behavior, but he did squeeze her hand back and let her lead him to the third floor.

* * *

Once there, they were met with Kakashi.

" Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?" questioned Sakura. Kakashi raised his hand lazily.

" Yo. I am here to congratulate you all and wish you luck in the exam."

" We don't need it Kakashi-sensei, cause were going all the way!" exclaimed Naruto.

" Hn. For once the dobe is actually right."

" Shut up, teme."

" Don't worry Kakashi, I'll make sure to keep them in line."

" Good luck with that." Kakashi wished to his old teacher, while Sakura sighed as she was watching Sasuke's and Naruto's antics." By the way..." he trailed off giving a pointed look at Minato's and Sakura's linked hands.

Minato looked a little surprised himself. He forgot that he was holding her hand and from the looks of it she did as well, though Minato could not blame her, cause to him it just felt unusually natural.

" It's nothing." he finally answered.

" I see. Well, you guys better get in there, if you don't want to be late."

" Yeah, we don't want to be like you Kakashi-sensei."

" That hurt, Naruto." replied said man, with fake sadness.

" Come on you guys, the door is right there." said Sakura getting a little impatient. **' Cha! What's with all these problems and interruptions, before we even start the freaking exam?!'** asked an annoyed inner. _' Don't know, but let's move.'_

Kakashi waved good-bye as Naruto and Sasuke opened the doors to the exam room. The second they stepped trough, heads turned, eyes glared, and the door closed behind them, with a loud bang.

**' Well, were off to a great start aren't we?'**

Sakura ignored her in favor of surveying the room, along with Minato.

" Sasuke-kun!" a blob of purple whizzed by and latched onto Sasuke's back." Oh Sasuke-kun, I missed those devilish good looks of yours." she cooed.

" Ino, get of me."

" Aww, don't be so shy."

" What a drag." came the lazy drawl of Shikamaru. Chouji was next to him, munching on his favorite potato chips.

" Hey, it's the idiot trio." called Naruto as he walked over towards the two boys.

" Don't call us that!" hissed Shikamaru.

" You'll have to excuse Naruto, he left his manners at home." Sakura ground out giving Naruto a pointed look. He sighed.

" Sorry guys."

" Whatever. Though, I'm shocked you were able to get him to apologize, Sakura."

Sakura smiled slightly." Well, as you always said Shikamaru, girls can be scary." said boy rubbed his head sheepishly and gave a lazy smile.

" I'm surprised you remember that."

" Well, you said it often enough. Plus unlike some girls, I pay attention to my surrounding and other people."

" Excuse me?!" shrieked Ino, just as Kiba, Hinata, and Shino, made their way over to the group. Ino turned to glare at Sakura, but she then noticed her her hand." Humph. So, you finally decided to pay Minato-kun off to be your girlfriend after he turn you down one too many times, how desperate can you get?" she asked flipping her long pony tail behind her.

Sakura narrowed her eyes." For you information, pig, we are just friends and I never asked him out." she said as she let go of his hand, much to Minato's disappointment, but he quickly shook that thought away." Beside, unlike you I have self-respect and don't fan-girl over guys that don't give me the time of day. So, why don't you go back to the barn, where you belong and stop playing ninja."

" What did you say?!"

" Ooh~. you got burned, Ino." snickered Kiba, along with a few other boys.

" Shut it, dog breath!"

" Dogs mouths are cleaner than humans, so thank you."

However before Ino could counter, a voice spoke up.

" Hey cutie pie, good to see you again." they all turned to see Kazune, Reika, and Shiro.

" Kazune, Reika, Shiro, it's good to see you all again." smiled Sakura.

" Like wise, Sakura." nodded Reika.

" So, it seems like a little party is going on right here, are we invited?" questioned Kazune.

" I was thinking this was more of a tourist attraction." Shiro spoke, looking around the room.

" You know these guys, Sasuke?" asked Kiba.

" Ah. We met them yesterday, they're from Takigakure."

" Well then, what's up! I'm Kiba and this is my dog Akamaru, these are my teammates Hinata and Shino."

" N-nice to meet y-you."

" Greetings."

" What a drag. I'm Shikamaru and this is Choji and Ino."

" Hi."

" Did you seriously call forehead, 'cutie pie'?"

" Forehead?" Kazune then looked at Sakura's forehead and grinned slightly at her." I see nothing wrong with it, it adds on to her innocent look."

Sakura got a small blush. Minato shifted a bit closer to her and had to keep from scowling. Why was he so upset that someone was complimenting Sakura and being nice? Well, _too_ for his taste, but everyone's different. He looked at Sakura out of the corner of his eye. Maybe Kazune is starting to like her. Minato could understand, after all she was smart, kind, and always looking out for Naruto and himself, recently Kakashi and Sasuke too. She began coming over to their house, in-order-to make sure they were eating properly and cleaning up after themselves. She freaked, when she heard that his birthday had passed and told him that they would celebrate it with Naruto's, even though he told her it was alright.

She's loud, aggressive, and a bit of a know it all, but she's Sakura. A girl who would never abandon her team, always there to support her friends, and will smile at them no matter how bad the situation is. Minato knows for a fact that he likes her smile, it always made her look beautiful. It's not her bright and bubbly smiles, though they are nice. It's her small, warm smile, that seems to say 'Thank-you-so-much-you-mean-a-lot-to-me', although Minato has only seen it twice, he is certain that there is no better smile than hers'.

He was brought out of his musings by a new unfamiliar voice." Hey, you guys should keep it down." the fresh group of genin and waterfall nin turned to see a silver-haired boy with glasses." Your getting a lot of angry looks." they all looked behind him and sure enough the entire room was glaring at them as if they offended them in the worse possible way.

" Well, who are you anyway?" questioned Ino.

the boy smiled." I'm Yakushi Kabuto, nice to meet you all."

" So have you taken this exam before?" asked Shiro.

" Hai, five times in fact, though I fail every time."

" Five times?! How tough are these exams?" called out Kiba.

" Very. Though I have gathered a lot of data with my ninfo cards."

" Ninfo cards?" echoed Choji.

Kabuto then proceeded to pull out cards and wow the genin, with his vast information, while Minato watched silently. There was something...off about this 'Kabuto'. He seems nice enough, but as ninja things are never what they seem. First, he comes over to tell us to quiet down, so we don't attract trouble. Next, he says that he has taken this exam five times already, however is willingly sharing information, with his competitors.

Minato barely heard Sasuke mutter Rock Lee and Gaara's names as he studied Kabuto. He then proceeded to crouch down and touch the floor, he had to keep from snapping his head up at Kabuto. The guy's chakra felt a lot darker than his attitude and behavior and chakra never lies. Minato could tell that not only was it darker, but also larger than he is letting on and there must be a reason for it.

" Listen, you guys might want to steer clear of the sound ninja as well, because I heard that they tend to have short tempers and bad attitudes." warned Kabuto.

_'There.'_ thought Minato. '_Why would he narrow it down to sound? Iwa and Ame ninja have just as bad if not worse reps than the newly for sound, not even counting the 'Bloody Mist' ear in Kiri. Why did that village get singled out?'_

Kabuto put away his ninfo cards." If you guys need any help in the exam, I'll gladly be of help."

_'His story and actions are not adding up, if he had truly failed five times he would never waste his time with fresh genin. Not only is he explaining thing to us, but he's offering even more help, it's like he's trying to get on our good side and gain our_ _trust.'_ Minato's eyes slightly widened. _' He's trying to gain our trust. He's after something and the likely hood that he is working under someone is high. He is most likely a spy, given his ninfo cards.'_ though Minato couldn't help but feel he heard the boy's name before.

As he finished up that last thought, a sound team came and rushed Kabuto, who dodged, but still ended up throwing up and getting his glasses cracked.

" Sorry, as you know we have short tempers." sneered a boy with gravity defying black hair.

" Are you alright man? That was gross." asked Kiba.

" I'm fine." answered Kabuto as he fixed his glasses.

" ALRIGHT, YOU MAGGOTS, I'M YOUR PROCTOR FOR THE FIRST EXAM! MY NAME IS MORINO IBIKI, your worst nightmare." he finished maliciously, with a dark smirk.

Minato was not too shock to see the man. He had just begun working at the T&I unite and was already being called a pro. Minato just hoped his team would be careful and read between the lines.

* * *

After he had explained the rules of the first exam and how, if they were to get caught cheating five times, the one caught and said persons team would be forced to leave. Also that the tenth question would be given out ten minutes before the end of the exam. However, if your team was one of the teams with the lowest overall score then you all fail.

Minato was placed directly across from Sakura, the two being separated by the aisle. He was also two rows in front of Sasuke. Naruto was two rows in front of Sakura and next to Hinata, the only team sitting together was the Ino-Shika-Cho team all the way in the back, on the same side as Sakura.

" And...Begin!" everyone turned over their test papers. Minato stared at his and quickly evaluated it. The questions were very difficult, even for chunin, but Minato was not a prodigy for nothing, plus making up to kage level only advanced his already large intelligence, so he could answer the questions just fine. He looked over towards Sakura and saw that she was already answering the questions with ease, he smiled a bit. She was definitely the bookish type, so he had no worries. Sasuke, who Minato found out activated his sharingan, back when he was fighting Haku, would be clever enough to use it and gain the answers.

It was obvious if you think about it, that Ibiki was practically forcing them to cheat. Only few genin could ever hope to answer these questions. But it's not just that. There are two chunin disguised as examines, from what Minato could tell by their chakra. Meaning that anyone around them, or with byakugan or sharingan would be able to copy off them and hopefully pass. However he was not worried about them or Sakura and Sasuke, cause he knew those two could take care of themselves. No the problem was.

Minato turned his head and looked at Naruto, who was visibly freaking out. The problem was, Naruto would be too dense to figure it out. He's the type of person that takes everything given to him as facts. A person could lie to him and he would most likely believe it. A person could be like Ibiki and give him a set of rules and Naruto would never question it, would never analyze, and would never look for the hidden truth and meaning. So Minato could only hope his son did nothing to draw attention to himself. This is not a test of intelligence, no it was a test at gathering information. The totaling of the points at the end might just be a way to throw us off guard.

But Minato has been in the game far too long to be thrown off, by a chunin exam. So just like Sakura, he answered all the questions, then opted to seeing if others discovered the hidden meaning of the test and how they would handle it.

He noticed the girl, Tenten, had wires attached to the ceiling mirrors, Neji used his byakugan, Kiba has Akamaru running around, Shino has his bugs, and Sasuke his sharingan. Minato then looked over towards the sand team. Gaara was molding his sand in his hand and it turned into a floating eye, that he sent to the genin in front of him. Kankuro just asked to go to the bathroom, with an escort of course, but as he was walking by, Minato noticed that chunin's face was coming off and that he could see wood underneath. Puppetry. He is not surprised considering Suna is known for their puppet controllers and poisons.

He then looked over towards the waterfall team. Shiro and Reika were in the same row, but there was a person between them. Kazune was right behind that person, so they were all close and seated on the far end side of Minato's half of the classroom. He saw Reika create a weird-looking black butterfly and it flew around the disguised chunin for a minute, before going back to her and resting on her hand. Her pencil began moving and she was muttering under her breath so softly that the person next to her would not even be able to hear, but when Minato turned to Shiro, he could tell that the boy heard every word.

_' Super hearing, eh?'_ thought Minato. Lastly, he turned towards Kazune, who had thin green vines attached to not only his hand, but Shiro's as well. Their pencils were moving at the same rate and time, they were connected._' Interesting.'_

It was about time for the tenth question and many students had their pencils down, waiting anxiously. Several people were caught cheating and were escorted out with their team.

" Pencils down! I will now give you the option of taking the tenth question!" barked Ibiki.

" The option?" echoed someone.

" Yes, you do not have to answer this question at all, but you will automatically fail the exam."

" What?! Then give us the question!"

Ibiki let out a dark chuckle." However, if you choose to answer the question and you get it wrong, then you will never be able to take this exam again and will remain a genin forever. If you want to quite now and try again in six months, then raise your hand, and you and your teammates will need to leave." after he said that, people got scared and several genin raised their hands.

Minato looked at his team, Sasuke looked fine and Sakura...was staring at Naruto with worry. Minato looked at his son and saw him visibly shaking, he then looked back at sakura and saw that she had come to a decision and was about to raise her hand for Naruto. However said boy, raised it on his own, but before Ibiki could say anything it was brought down on the table, hard.

" BRING IT ON, I'M NOT SCARED! I'M GONNA BECOME HOKAGE ONE DAY AND NO TEST IS GONNA STOP ME!" he shouted. As soon as he was done everyone's mood changed at the pure determination in his voice, which Ibiki noted.

" Is that your final answer?"

" Dattebayo!"

Ibiki smirked." Well then, you all pass." his smirk widened at everyone's stupefied expressions.

" What a minute, what about the tenth question?" asked Sakura, voicing everyone's question.

" There is no tenth question, it was just a test to see if you would give, when faced with a difficult decision." he began to explain how chunin are forced to make hard decisions that could put their lives in jeopardy, but do so for their village and kage.

After he finished everyone looked relieved and happy. Until an explosion went off and a banner appeared in front of Ibiki, spelling out the name of their next proctor.

" My name is Mitarashi Anko and I will be your examiner for the next part! Now, follow me!" everyone just stared at her like she was crazy, which she was.

" Anko," came Ibiki's annoyed voice as he came back into view." your early."

Said woman's posture changed to a sheepish one.

" Oops." she then looked around." You let 43 genin pass? You must be going soft, Ibiki."

" Or maybe we have a stronger batch of genin this year." he replied.

" Che. Well when I'm done with them, there won't even be half of 'em left." she announced, much to the horror of the genin.

_' And here I was hoping, Anko would not turn into a huge sadist.'_ thought Minato, dejectedly. He knew of her past with Orochimaru as well as her...rough tendencies, so he's not that surprised._' At least we all made it. But I have a feeling, this next part of the exam is gonna be harder than we bargained for.' _

* * *

**Done! Sorry it took so long, I had to get my lazy butt motivated, but I did it. I do have a question for you all though.**

**I was thinking of pairing Naruto up with someone, however I did not just want to do naruhina, cause a lot of people are sick of the pairing(like I am with sasusaku. Really it's just used TOO much.) so give me a suggestion of who you want him with. And it can't be Sakura. sorry.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


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